The Bastard Black
by nerdybabe
Summary: What if Sirius and Harry had somebody who was willing fight for them during those crazy days after the end of the war? Enter Sonny Cromwell Black, cousin of Sirius and James, best friend to Lily and girlfriend to Remus. See how Sonny fights to hold on to the one she loves the most and protect them.
1. Prologue

This story was written for fun and none of the characters other then Sonny and her family belong to me.

Prologue

_Hogwarts Express 1971 _

Sonia Cromwell-Black, affectionately called Sonny, had only been on the Hogwarts Express for 15 minutes before she decided she hated it. Well actually she hated her good for nothing cousins Sirius Black and James Potter for ignoring her struggles to load her trunk on to the overhead rack in favor of discussing pranks and jokes. She was also terrified that James and Sirius seemed to have found each other so fast. Sirius was her first cousin and James being a distant third they had never actually met in person before today. Sonny the Bastard Black as she was often called by Sirius' mother was only even allowed near Sirius' branch of the family because her father's perfect example of blood purity wife was unable to sire him a child meaning Sonny would be the only one he would ever have.

Sonny's mother Nora Cromwell was as pure-blood as they come but the Cromwell family's views on muggles, muggleborns and blood purity failed to align with the Black family's views. So the mad affair between the Ravenclaw and the Slytherin stopped with the threat of cutting off Phineas finically. Yet not before Nora became pregnant. Nora was now a healer at St. Mungo's in fact it is where she met Dorea Potter. Both women had been pregnant at the same time Nora was young and scared and Dorea had been older and never expected to have a child so late in life. The two bonded before realizing that Nora was related to Charlus, however distantly. Sonny and James were more like brother and sister. James being her protector and her saving him from himself.

So Sonny continued to struggle with the massive trunk while the two trouble makers yammered on. Finally fed up the young witch huffed her long black hair out of her face and wandlessly lifted the trunk on to the rack. It was only then that Sirius interjected, "Sonny are you sure that you should have done that?" Just as James asked, "How are you gonna explain that?" Leave it to James and Sirius to only care about rules when it didn't apply to their behavior. Rolling her eyes she replied, "If anyone asks it was accidental magic brought on by my frustration with the trunk and the lack of help I got from my cousins." Now settled into her seat she jokingly asked, "Scared I'll get detention before you two?" For while she would admonish them Sonny was often a willing participant in the trouble the boys respectively got into.

Before either could answer the doors opened to reveal a girl with long red hair and bright green eyes followed closely behind by a boy with greasy black hair and a nose that had obliviously been broken several times and never set properly. The girl softly asked if the compartment was full. With a wave of her hand and a nod Sonny signaled for the duo to join them. Sonny and the girl named Lily quietly conversed about Hogwarts and houses while the hook-nosed boy pulled out an advanced potions book to read. Sonny explained about the difference of the houses and her family's history of being in Ravenclaw but her hope to be in Gryffindor. She told Lily that she could see her as a Ravenclaw. It was this statement that had the hook-nosed boy expounding on the greatness of Slytherin house. Sonny panicked knowing both James' and Sirius' feelings about Slytherin. She quickly interjected that Lily was certainly cunning enough but as a muggleborn she would face a great deal of adversity in that house which was known for its views on blood purity. Sadly the damage of Severus', for that was the boy's name, statements had already been done. Sirius started ranting about all that was wrong with Slytherin and James pulled his wand on the boy to jinx but the train jostled to a start and he hit Lily. Not knowing that the bubble gum pink hair she sported wasn't permanent she screamed. Putting Severus on the defense as Sonny quickly set Lily's hair back to rights.

Once Lily managed to calm Severus it was decided that the two would leave. Sonny left with the duo to help find another compartment and apologize for her cousins' awful behavior. Quickly they found a compartment with a blond girl named Alice. Where she again apologized to Lily for the hair incident and told Severus that while she didn't agree with his opinions he should never be attacked for them even it was just with pink hair. She swiftly exited after that shaking her head having a feeling that she was going to spend the next seven years apologizing for Sirius and James. When she reentered her compartment she was so busy yelling at the two boys that she didn't even realize that another one had joined them. She turned towards the amber-eyed boy who was staring at her in shock and introduced herself, "Hello, I am Sonia Cromwell, most people call me Sonny and I swear I am not part banshee." He chuckled softly and shyly introduced himself, "I am Remus Lupin and I don't think I have ever met someone with purple eyes before."

Oh he was looking at her eyes. Most people didn't have violet eyes. In her family it was a genetic marker of extreme magical power; Power that only her family, James and Sirius knew about which was why they questioned her bold use of non-verbal and wandless magic. She lightly told him they were a rare occurrence in her family then turned the topic towards safer waters. As the train ride progressed the three cousins kept up lighthearted chatter hoping to draw the shy boy out of his shell. Sonny hoped that James and Sirius would at least attempt to learn something and that Remus would accept an offer of friendship from the two hooligans she loved so much he seemed like he could do with a little fun and adventure in his life.


	2. The Longest Night

_Late October 31 -Early Hours of November 1, 1981_

Sonny awoke with a searing pain in her head. She just remembered pain and the sight of rubble shaking off the last remains of the dream the young empath calmed and began to search her feelings for the familiar presence of her friends and family. First she found Sirius that low hum in the back of her mind. Next was Remus, whom she found both mentally and physically, a soft growl in her mind and loud snore in her bed. Harry was her freshest and newest connection and he was wailing in the forefront of her mind but the persistent buzz of James and the light bell like noise of Lily were nowhere to be found and she knew. He found them.

She jumped out of bed and quickly began to pull on clothes. With jeans and a ratty jumper pulled over her nightgown she attempted to wake Remus, who had passed out still in his clothes after returning from a mission for the Order, repeating over and over He is in Godric's Hollow. When he still didn't reply she threw his shoes at him. Remus, now more alert, hopped up and tried to get his girlfriend to explain what she was talking about. She turned to him violet eyes glassy with unshed tears and said, "I can't feel James and Lily. I am getting an extreme amount of fear and confusion from Harry. He is in Godric's Hollow and James and Lily are most likely dead." The last word barely making it past her lips and he realized this could only mean one thing. "Sirius betrayed them", he stated coldly of his friend whom had been behaving rather strangely of late.

Taking a deep breath she told him, "I am getting a lot of emotions from Sirius mostly grief he didn't betray them. He would never betray James and Lily. He would certainly never harm Harry!" He flinched and tried explain all the reasons why she was wrong, "He has been acting very strange especially since you were taken." Sonny looked at him and exclaimed, "Maybe because if our family could get to me then they could certainly get to him." Remus countered back with, "But he was their Secret Keeper." Sonny expelled a deep sigh, "There are things that you don't know Remus things that happened while you were away. Plans were put into action and many secrets were kept. I will explain it to everybody but we have to get to Harry and Godric's Hollow before something else happens."

With that they both apparated to Godric's Hollow. They appeared in front James' and Lily's house to find the building in ruins and James' and Lily's bodies on the lawn. She knew that the searing pain was her connection to James and Lily being snapped and the rubble she vaguely remembered was in actuality the remains of the cute little cottage that Lily had carefully decorated and been so proud of. Knowing this she still felt an overwhelming urge to vomit compounded by Remus' reactions. She found Hagrid standing by Sirius' damned motorbike holding a blue bundle. She and Remus ran towards the half-giant attempting to see the little boy that had acted as a ray of light for them since his birth. Hagrid was trying to comfort the child but failing miserably. She took him out of Hagrid's arms sending calm and loving feelings through the bond as Hagrid informed them that he had orders to take him to Dumbledore. Sonny managed to convince Hagrid to let them take Harry to Hogwarts to see Poppy in the Hospital wing as he was obviously injured in the attack judging by the large but healing cut on his forehead and needed to be examined plus Dumbledore was most likely still at Hogwarts. Hargrid took the bike as he had planned because Sirius told him he didn't need it which made Remus raise his eyebrow in silent communication but Sonny glared in responses as she searched for Sirius. When she finally found him all she felt was guilt and a deep proper rage that would only be sated with blood she knew the feeling all too well but shook reminders of her past off. She told her boyfriend that they needed to leave before the muggles started to arrive and with that the couple apparated to Hogwarts' front gate and began the long trek to the Headmaster's office with the finally calm and resting Harry Potter in their arms.

_AN: I mention empathy as a power which is borrowed slightly from Charmed but I picture it as a natural form of Legilimency that can't be taught and an advanced form of it because empaths can form bonds with people and feel these people across long distances. Empaths also have an amazingly high tolerance for pain._


	3. The Truth

Chapter Text

During the entire walk Remus had continually asked what she knew about Sirius and all she would say was that he didn't betray the Potters and they needed to save an innocent man from Azkaban. He still didn't understand that while he was away on missions for Albus life went on without him, her life went on. He also confessed his suspicions that Sirius was the spy. She retorted that Sirius had spent the better part her recuperation from being taken trying to convince her that Remus was the spy. Shocked Remus exclaimed, "What?" "I didn't believe him just as I don't believe you. The person I suspected was… I fear the person that was whispering in both of your ears." Sonny answered with a pointed look. "You thought it was Peter. Why?" Remus asked incredulously only confirming her original feelings on the matter. "I have never liked Peter, between his sycophantic nature and the fact that he would often egg on James and Sirius worse traits he never gave me reason to. You never wondered why Pete wasn't on my emotional radar but you were after just a year? I never trusted him but I also never expected him to stoop so low as to betray us all I am sure he was the one who gave up Marlene and me." He never connected Sonny's kidnapping with the spy feeling guilty for it but also unsure if her bias against Peter was clouding her judgment. It was true he often wondered why he wasn't on her radar, as she put it, but just assumed that James and Sirius were family, Lily was her best friend and he is romantically involved with her of course they would be on her radar but her and Peter were never close. Changing the topic to the matter of Harry and where he was going to live. He knew her and Sirius were Harry's godparents and that his being a werewolf could be used to keep Harry out of her care but he would not be a weapon against her and expressed as much. Sonny called him daft for suggesting that he leave in fact had she not been holding the child in question she would have smacked him over the head. Remus and Sonny entered the Headmaster's office unified in the idea that they needed to convince him that Harry belonged with them. They knew that he planned to send Harry to live with someone other than his godmother and Sonny had a sinking feeling that she knew exactly where Albus Dumbledore planned to send him.

When they arrived Dumbledore was not in his office. This gave Sonny time to form a plan of attack she needed to save Sirius and keep the old coot from sending Harry to Lily's awful sister. Why she thought that he would send Harry to Petunia was simple when James and Lily were first marked for death he suggested that they hide in the muggle world. She gave Remus Harry to hold and sat behind Albus' grand desk a position of power that would throw him off kilter. Albus often forgot the trees for the forest and she refused to let Harry or Sirius, be among those forgotten or chucked over for the greater good without Albus even realizing he was doing it. She had the house elves bring some food for Harry, not sure when he had been fed last, and let Remus feed the little boy.

Albus Dumbledore walked into his office after a long night. Tom was gone but for how long and what was the world in for when he returned. He had failed an entire generation of students. Questions swirled in his head as he thought back on the people who had fought with him and for him. James and Lily murdered in cold blood, young Harry orphaned, Sonny was almost killed and had lost her unborn child, Remus kept from protected his family because Albus had sent him on mission to keep the werewolves from joining Tom and Sirius and Severus, yes, he had fail both men the most not realizing what the broken children would be capable of. Now was not the time to dwell on his failures now he had to write an explanation of this mess to Petunia Dursley and hope that she would take in her nephew, not just for his safety but for her family's as well. His train of thought was stopped when he noticed Remus Lupin and Harry Potter asleep on the small couch that sat in his office and saw Sonny sitting behind his desk with her hands under chin as if in prayer but in fact her violet eyes were bearing straight into his. "We need to talk Albus." Her voice was soft and dangerous when she addressed him. He had to admit Sonia Cromwell-Black, though she had long ago dropped the Black, had always intrigued him. The girl was powerful, more powerful than she ever showed him and he could never get a read on her yet she seemed as if she could see into the deepest corners of his mind and knew his darkest secrets. She was a true neutral able to wield both light and dark magic without being tainted by it. Yes she was a very powerful ally and an even more fearsome enemy.

"What do you wish to talk about surely as you have Harry you already know James and Lily were killed and Sirius betrayed us all?" he asked the witch. "Sirius didn't betray anyone and I can prove it. There is also the matter of Harry's guardianship to attend to as you basically sent poor Hagrid to kidnap the child and whisk him off to live with Lily's vile sister and her equally vile husband instead of sending him to the guardian his parents choose for him- me." Sonny replied in a cool tone. Albus couldn't decide which part of that statement he should address first but felt that if she could prove Sirius was innocent it would be important to get the man out of Azkaban as soon as they could and once she understood the blood protections she wouldn't fight him about the Petunia issue though he couldn't help but wonder how she knew he planned to send Harry to his aunt's. "What proof do you have?" he asked. "Do you have a pensieve?" she countered. Nodding and pointing in the direction of his pensieve he watched as she went over to wake Remus from his slumber on the couch. "He wanted to know what I knew about Sirius but I figured it would be easier to show you both at the same time." she explained. Once Remus was awake she tapped her wand to her temple and extracted a silvery wisp and placed it in a vial before handing it to Albus. "A wise woman once said that no one loses their innocence it is either taken or given away willingly. We gave you our innocence Albus and fought your war without reservation now it is time for you to reward the faith and trust we placed in you. You will find that it has not been tampered with." Sonny told him with solemn eyes. She took Harry from Remus as both men prepared to view the memory that Albus had confirmed was not tampered with or false.

_*Memory*_

_Lily and Sonny were at Order Headquarters waiting to tend to the wounded from the latest fight. Sonny was still recovering from her kidnapping and subsequent torture and Lily was the best healer they had outside of Poppy, who was at Hogwarts, leaving Lily as the Order's head healer._

_"I am glad we are alone. I need to talk to you about something." Lily said turning to her best friend._

_"What is it? Is something wrong?" Sonny asked panicked while a million and one scenarios played in her mind._

_"Nothing is terribly wrong it's just that Sirius has had an idea about the Secret Keeper." The red head replied._

_"But Sirius is your Secret Keeper isn't it a little late to decide he can't handle the pressure?" The black haired witch asked._

_"He said that your being taken has made him question if he could handle it as well as you did. He suggested and James agreed that we should change Secret Keepers but not tell anyone that way if Sirius ever gets taken and he breaks he will have nothing to share." Lily explained._

_"You want me to do it. Lils I don't know if my core is healed enough to take on that kind of charm. Why don't you or James just become the Secret Keeper yourselves?" Sonny suggested knowing that if she didn't do it and James didn't Sirius was going to push for someone else other than Remus._

_"I don't know if you can be Secret Keeper of your own home. If you don't do it Sirius suggested Peter as Remus has been in the field so much that…" Lily trailed off only now realizing how hurtful her statement may have been._

_"That he is in a greater danger of dying. Ask Albus about James being Secret Keeper or even ask Albus to do it. You and Jamie turned down his offer very swiftly and publically nobody would think he was the Secret Keeper just as they would never believe you would pick Peter. Sirius' plan would still work and Albus is far more untouchable than me as recent events have proven." She said covertly rubbing her hand over her abdomen looking for the slight hardness and bump that had been proof of her child._

_Noticing the gesture Lily started to speak but a flurry of bodies came into sight including a bloodied Sirius Black semi-carrying a very beaten looking Frank Longbottom effectively ending the conversation._

_*End Memory*_

AN:The quote about innocence comes from Tiffany Madison's Black and White and I found it on The novel is still in it's editing phase but it is such a great quote. I am also planning on writing about how Sonny managed to escape from the Deatheaters as well as how her and Remus got together. If anybody likes the character enough to read it.


	4. Sirius and the Sort of Sisters

Both men were pulled out of the memory each in shock of what they just witnessed. Sirius had convinced them to change Secret Keepers. "That was very informative. Thank you Sonny." Dumbledore said as the woman in question changed her godson's nappy. He was trying to absorb what he had just seen. "So you were right Peter was the spy. Why not tell Lily of your suspicions it could have saved their lives?" Remus asked as she used a _Scourgify_ to wash her hands and then _Evanesco_ to vanish the soiled nappy. "If everybody hadn't come back I was planning on it in hopes that she would ask Albus to be Secret Keeper I knew that none of you would be believe that Peter was the spy but Lily would have listened and at least pick somebody we knew we could definitely trust like Albus." She said gesturing towards their former Headmaster. "Judging by the fact that you were certain that Sirius betrayed us Lily never even asked you about James or her becoming the Secret Keeper and they just went with Peter. Those gits most likely strong armed her into using Peter after she told them that I couldn't." This comment was directed at Albus.

"Lily never came to me about becoming the Secret Keeper herself. I would have told her that it was possible and offered again to be the Secret Keeper for them." Dumbledore shook his head at the idea that he had ever doubted Sirius Black's devotion to the Potters, his friends or the Order. "You suspected that it was Peter may I ask why?" Albus queried of his former student. "I have never been very fond of Peter. He didn't fit with the other Marauders. While all the boys were different they made each other better. Peter catered to Jamie's ego and often encouraged Sirius' crueler inclinations. Hell Jamie had to have a talk with him when they figured out where Remus went every month and why." She explained. "That explains why you would think it was him but what other proof did you have? You never would have considered telling Lily based on your own dislike of the man." Dumbledore pushed for an answer. "Among other things Peter has a set pattern of behavior: find the most powerful person he can and cater to their whims in return for the protection. Here at Hogwarts that was the Marauders but out there when things were looking bleak it was…" "Voldemort" Remus stated completed the sentence for Sonny. She simply nodded and both looked to the Headmaster. Sonny's family connections were strong and could help Sirius. Yet if they were combined with a word from Dumbledore it would almost ensure his freedom.

The old wizard cleared his throat, "This proves that Sirius wasn't their Secret Keeper but there is still the matter of Peter and the 12 muggles." "What about Peter and muggles?" Sonny asked confused. "We believed that Peter had gone after Sirius and tried to confront him about James and Lily. The street where Sirius and Peter dueled had been blown up with a blasting curse killing Peter and 12 muggles. Now we know that it was Sirius confronting Peter and the confession at the scene was guilt for making them pick Peter." Albus answered. Sonny thought back to that deep rage she had felt from Sirius he certainly intended to kill Peter but Sirius was a Black if he wanted to make someone suffer it wouldn't have been a blasting curse he would have used the Unforgivables or some obscure curse only to be found in the Black family Grimoire. "Are you sure it was Sirius who cast the spell and not Peter because if Sirius wanted Peter dead he would have used the killing curse it is more precise and wouldn't caused so much damage." Sonny posed to the group Remus automatically seeing where her train of thought had taken her. "But Peter would have needed to cause a scene a blasting curse and a street full of dead muggles would certainly achieve that" said Remus. Albus' interest was piqued as he watched the two worked together to piece together what happened earlier in the night. "We need to set up a trial a simple _Priori Incantato_ would prove if Sirius cast the blasting curse. My memory can prove that he wasn't the Secret Keeper." Sonny said appraising the older wizard's thoughts and feelings. If he helped Sirius then both his godparents would be around to take care of Harry, negating his plan to send Harry to Lily's sister for his own safety of course.

"Albus, I don't need your help to get a trial for Sirius but would you really let an innocent man go to prison because he and I could change your careful plans for Harry. You remember Harry. Small, scared child in my arms he is not a weapon Albus. HE WILL NEVER BE YOUR WEAPON!" Sonny shouted shaking with anger. She truly thought that he wouldn't even have to think twice about helping Sirius. Remus put his arms around her and Harry, not knowing what Sonny had seen in Albus' mind to make her react in such as way. Albus was distressed as she shouted out his thoughts and assuming the worst of not only them but of him. Before he could speak in his own defense she continued on her rant, "We are not chess pieces on a board for you to manipulate and play we are people who foolishly trusted you to do the right thing by us because we stood by you. James and Lily will be the last people to fall victim to your plots no more innocents will be sacrificed for your greater good." Albus properly looked at the young girl for the first time then and saw how much older she looked. Yes, they had been children ignorant of the realities of war when this had started but before him he saw two battle weary adults who no longer believed every word that came out of his mouth though he doubted Sonny ever did. Finally being able to get a word in edgewise he stated, "Lily died to protect Harry. This placed a special protection in Harry's blood through Lily. Wherever Lily's blood flows Harry will be safe. This isn't about keeping him squirreled away from you or making him my weapon. He needs to be with Lily's sister." Shifting Harry to her hip, Sonny showed her right palm to Albus revealing a long thin scar down it. "After Regan died all I wanted was a sister and around that same time Lily was really going through a challenging period with Petunia, she had snapped Lily's wand during the summer holidays. Over the break, we decided to become blood sisters a quick cut with a pocket knife we smashed our hands together and then said a few words. Lily has the matching scar on her left hand." Remus never knew what the matching scars meant but he remembered the bandages that both girls had sported that Christmas when they all stayed in the castle and the various times that Lily or Sonny would call the other "sis" now seemed to make sense.

It would only take a few drops of blood to blood adopt a witch or wizard. Knowing that Lily may no longer be considered related to Petunia changed his game plan he needed to know the words the girls had used and if Sonny had unintentionally blood adopted her best friend. "Sonny what words did you and Lily say, the exact words?" Albus implored the young witch to remember the ritual. "Sisters we were never, now sisters we are forever." She said after a moment to recall the exact wording. Albus eyebrows were to his hairline, "You blood adopted her." "I didn't know it at the time we were 16 and all the kids at the muggle summer camp Regan and I went to would do something like that. We didn't find out what we had done until she went to take her inheritance test before her and Jamie got married." Sonny defended accidentally adopting her best friend but for the first time all night her tone was light and she sounded less like a damaged war veteran and more like a 21 year old girl.

Sighing Albus said, "Well now that it appears that the matter of Harry's blood protection is settled we should get him looked over that looks like a pretty nasty cut. We can eat while Poppy checks him over and then we can figure out how get Sirius cleared and who best to approach with the issue. I can tell you now Crouch will be of no help he plans to make Sirius the face of the Deatheaters." He started to usher the couple towards the door so they could head to the Hospital wing before students started to roam the halls.

AN: Regan is Sonny's half sister she is 2 years younger then Sonny. If you wanna know what happened to Regan well I plan on writing that story too as it shows how Sonny became the person she is. If Sonny seems a little emotionally unbalanced remember she just lost the man she though of as her brother and her sort of sister as well as still being traumatized by what happened to her.


	5. Babies and Battle Plans

Chapter Text

The house elves brought food into the Hospital wing when they realized two things, 1) whenever anyone other than Remus or Sonny held him Harry screamed bloody murder and 2) she was not sitting in the Great Hall at the head table without a bra on she had very vivid memories of what Hogwarts boy could be like when it came to her assets.

Poppy had given Harry a complete check up including a diagnostic that proved that Harry and Sonny were aunt and nephew just for Albus' peace of mind. There was something odd about that cut on Harry's head but since someone - Sirius- had healed it all they knew was that it was where Voldemort's killing curse had hit Harry before it rebounded and killed the evil son of a bitch. At least for now anyway she sensed that Dumbledore wasn't convinced that he was truly dead. Things were coming together they had a lot of things to do between getting Sirius out of jail, planning the funeral and making the Cromwell/Lupin household Harry ready but having a plan and at least 5 very strong cups of coffee in her made her feel ready to conquer the world.

They had decided that Harry would spend a few days with her mother and her crazy aunts in Cromwell Manor, one of the safest and well guarded places in the Wizarding World, while they planned the service for James and Lily and worked on getting Sirius a trial. As they devoured their breakfast it was plain that they needed to go to the Ministry to handle the paperwork needed to take custody of Harry and to get Sirius a trial as Dumbledore told them that it has been discovered that they sent Sirius straight to Azkaban with no trial something which pissed the couple off massively. Both were well aware how corrupt the Ministry could be and it seemed that Sirius would be the latest to be screwed over by said corruption.

They departed from his office for home with promise to meet at the Ministry after dropping Harry off with her mother. The couple plus baby climbed out of the fireplace as they did so Sonny started to appraise the flat that she had been living in for the last 3 years and mentally detailing what needed to be done to make the apartment a proper place for Harry. The three bedrooms were perfect the master suite (her and Remus' room), a guest room that had long ago been claimed as Sirius' and a half finished nursery that she hadn't enter in a over a month would now house Harry. Yet the more she thought about it as she went about her morning routine she knew that they would have to find a house she had been taken from in front of this very building it was no longer as safe as it once was and certainly not safe for Harry. She looked at herself in the mirror and thought add new place to live to the list and turned to go about getting dressed.

While Remus was getting changed and cleaned up she decided to fire called her mother and aunts hoping they would be willing to watch Harry and provide a safe haven until they could find a new place to live. Cromwell Manor was a strange house that had been built generations ago by her ancestor Eve, the last Cromwell witch with violet eyes, over time new levels, rooms and protections were added it had secret passages, staircases that lead nowhere and part of Sonny was convinced that the house was sentient because on more than one occasion she had been getting into trouble and was lead straight to the aunts as hallways and room disappeared from sight. It had been a port in storm for Sonny and Nora before the place they retreated after Izzy's death and her step-father left unable to handle the loss of his only daughter. So once again just as it had been when she was first born it was Nora, Sonny and the aunts. She dearly hoped that they would say yes because they would need a place to recover from the war both emotionally and physically.

Her fears were unfounded as the aunts had been shocked when she chose to stay in London after her ordeal instead of returning to Southend. She had finished her call with her mother who then proceeded to let each aunt take over the call. They were excited to have the whole clan coming to stay with them and the aunts were more than willing to call any of their friends to help pull more support for Sirius they vowed that the Wizengamot would not be less than diligent in its duties again.

Harry had been cleaned up and changed into a newly transfigured outfit while they were at Hogwarts, once Remus returned they would drop him off with her mother. Thank Merlin that her mother was the one who gave Harry his checkups and he was used to her because there was no way they were taking him to the Ministry after all the hoopla the aunts had told her about regarding Harry and the events of last night. The Boy Who Lived, that is what they are calling him, people are out having parties and celebrating when his life (and hers) was in shambles. The impact of it all hit her in that moment not only did their lives change last night but the whole world changed. No more hiding, fighting and death but she had lost too much to the war and the politics behind it that she would never be able to celebrate this time not now and not ever.

While she had been lost in thought Remus had come into the living room and scooped Harry out of her arms. "Everything all right, well anything more wrong?" He asked while making funny faces at Harry, who was laughing at his "Mooey". "It all just hit me that's all. We have to stay with my mum and the aunts the flat isn't safe. Voldemort might be dead but his followers are still out there and everybody is talking about Harry defeating him and they are just putting targets on his back. My insane cousins alone are enough to make sure we pull up stakes. The Manor won't be permanent just until we can find a place for all of us maybe with an attached flat for Sirius." Sonny said in a rush. "Finally realized it I was wondering when you put together that we would need another place. The Manor will be fine until we can find something safe and with a space for Sirius I don't want him being alone either. I just hope we can move past this whole spy mess." Remus said all while not meeting Sonny's eyes. She now took in Remus' posture he seemed awkward in his own skin the last time he seemed like this was the first and only time Remus met her father. Of course in the end she got what she wanted from her father and he buried Remus' werewolf status so far in the Ministry system it would take a troop of Unspeakables to find it in exchange for spending two Christmases with him and the Black family the hell holidays were, in her opinion, worth it.

"Sirius will forgive you just like you will forgive him. I won't lie it will be weird at first. Your friendship will never be the same because Jamie isn't here and Peter is the reason why and you will probably go over every moment of the time you all spent together trying to figure out if you missed anything that could have stopped it but what will get us all through this is being together and a stronger friendship will grow from that I am sure of it." She told him as she stood on her tiptoes to kiss him and then said, "Now let's get this little fella to my mum so we can bust Sirius out of the clink. I always knew the day would come that I would have to get him out of jail I just thought it would be for public indecency or drunkenness."

With that final thought the small group apparated to Cromwell Manor. They were greeted by Nora and the aunts. Remus will always remember the first time he ever met Sonny's mother for in that moment he knew exactly what Sonny would look like once they were adults. Mother and daughter shared the same lean build, petite stature and the air of elegant mischief. The only difference was Nora's straight chestnut colored hair and hazel eyes where as Sonny had inherited the same ebony waves that Sirius and her other cousins sported and her violent eyes. The aunts were probably another reason for the failed relationship between Sonny's parents because like all the Cromwell women before them they were eccentric even by wizarding standards. He wasn't even sure how closely related they were to Sonny and Nora if they were great-great-great aunts or more, they were always referred to as the aunts. They taught their niece strange spells and gave her an even stranger moral code. Still nobody, not even his own father, had ever treated him with such kindness and caring as the Cromwell women and he doubted that anyone ever would when it came to his furry little problem, even when he had trouble accepting himself and it hurt Sonny in the process.

Hugs and kisses were shared as they greeted each other. Sonny quickly explained the situation using a few choice words to describe certain members of the Ministry, Council of Magical Law, and even Dumbledore. The aunts had used their considerable influence to rally quite a few members to reconsider the idea of a trial in the case of Sirius Black meaning when she, Remus and Dumbledore arrived to pose the idea to the Ministry they would have enough support to force Crouch and the Minister to give Sirius the trial he deserved. Merlin she loved those crazy old bats if only they had been allowed to be more involved with Regan, life would be very different indeed. With quick kisses and whispered words of love they left Harry in the more than capable hands of her mum. After all they were starting a small coup it would be remiss to be late.

AN: Regan's father was a muggle. He was very Darren Stevens about magic and didn't like the aunts to be involved in Regan's life. He was actually unhappy that his daughter had magic and wasn't pleased when Sonny was forced to reconnect with the Blacks.


	6. Meeting Crouch

Chapter Text

As they entered the Ministry Sonny struggled to keep up with Remus' long confident strides in her heels especially with crowds, it always fascinated her how Remus could seemingly become another person depending on the situation. It was a talent he developed after years of being conditioned to understand that people would treat him differently because he was a werewolf. He could be the most agreeable person in the room nobody could find fault with the lovable albeit shy man. Between his ability to charm a room or be invisible at a whim he was an ideal spy for Albus and she could see how easy it would have been to convince Sirius that he was the traitor as she watched him walkabout as if he owned the place.

She managed to catch up by sprinting the short distance between them but the burst of energy diverted energy that was being spent on blocking her bond with Sirius. Suddenly she felt cold and all hope seemed to have drained out of her. Noticing the color quickly draining from her face Remus turned eyes asking what was wrong. She managed to grit out, "Bond… Sirius… Dementors." With a hand on the small of her back Remus guided her to the Ministry Munchies café and swiftly purchased a hot chocolate hoping that it would counteract the effects of secondhand dementor exposure. She sipped the hot drink while she started the process of blocking Sirius again normally she had to reach out to others to feel their emotions with people she had bonded with she could feel them at great distances but she was only ever overwhelmed when the people she bonded with reached out to her whether it is intentional or unintentional Sirius was reaching out for her.

She had, feeling quite guilty about it, successfully blocked Sirius by the time Albus arrived. The couple greeted the Headmaster that they had left a just a few hours ago and entered the lift to take them to the second floor. She had to chuckle they all seemed to be wearing their own version of armor Remus in his best suit and shiny shoes reminded her very much of a muggle solicitor ready to expound on the ideals of justice. Albus had to be wearing the most outrageous robes he owned that screamed I am so powerful and influential that I can wear whatever I want. She thought about her own artfully applied makeup and hair all drawing attention to her eyes which she knew most people found unnerving. Yes they had traded one war for another and this time wands and spells would be useless. As the lift announced its arrival on the second floor she straightened her posture and slipped on her pure-blood mask, the one honed after a million different Black family functions where she bit the inside of her cheek and barely restrained herself from punching Bella or her aunts in the face, she felt rather then saw Remus slipping into his own version of a mask preparing to face a room full of people who only saw him as a monster.

They walked straight past the auror cubicles, though Sonny couldn't help but notice that Sirius' desk, which sat across from James', was boxed up while James' looked like a shrine and headed towards Crouch's office. Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody was waiting for them by the door. Sonny was sure that Moody wouldn't help the original paranoid bastard would never second guess if he believe a wizard to be dark it was made him so good at his job but he knew Sirius and saw him and James together nearly every day if he couldn't trust either of his eyes then he would have to retire. "Been waitin' here for 45 minutes Albus people are gonna start thinkin' I am puttin' down roots" Moody growled. Shocked that Moody was on their side Sonny quickly stated, "You're helping us… helping Sirius." "The day Blackie turns to the dark is the day I eat my leg" Mad Eye replied. If she didn't think he would hex her silly she would have hugged the older auror and with that thought the odd looking quartet entered Crouch's office unannounced.

The ruthless Bartermius Crouch Sr. was at his desk looking quite pleased with himself as if he was the reason behind Voldemort's fall. This caused a rise in both Sonny's and Remus' ire at the man. The smugness was rolling off the man in waves for the first time since she had gained control of her empathy she was on the edge of acting on the impulses of others and punching him in the face specifically his poncey nose. Just as she was fantasizing about how satisfying it would be to feel the bone snap under her fist Crouch realized he was no longer alone in his office. Surprise and annoyance quickly fluttered across the politician's face when looking at the group that interrupted him basking in the glow of his success. Albus Dumbledore was a threat to his raising to power in the Ministry and Alastor was borderline insane. The young couple with them had no place in his office a werewolf and the Black that had managed to "escape" Voldemort's clutches put him on alert instantly. Clearing his throat he asked, "Now Albus what can I do for you and why do we need an audience for it?" "I have new information that will prove that Sirius Black is innocent and that _we_ were wrong in not giving him a trial" Albus explained the reason for the visit and the audience. Crouch deeply inhaled through his poncey nose and said "How exactly did you come by this so called proof of innocence and it must be good because after you confirmed that Black was the Secret Keeper you seemed to satisfied to let justice take its course."Sonny not willing to be ignored by the arsehole as she was coming to think of Crouch interjected, "I provided a memory of a conversation with Lily Potter about secret keepers that Albus had not been aware of when he confirmed Sirius' status as Secret Keeper and nobody would think putting a man, guilty or innocent, in Azkaban without a trial is any form of justice." Shocked that she dare speak out of turn Crouch turned on her, "I think you should consider who you are talking to Miss Black because while you care deeply for your cousin you are gravely out of your depth." "It is Miss Cromwell and I think that you will find me surprisingly in my depth. After all sharks are born swimming" Sonny answered her eyes hard and the insinuations clear. In her position as a Cromwell and a Black she had influence with both the light and dark families and could easily sway the neutrals and she had learned the game very young at the knee of her uncle and father. If she had to she would ruin Crouch, the man was a wartime leader, eventually the fear and paranoia would go away and people would realize he was just a ruthlessly single minded as the Deatheaters he helped hunt and imprison. Honestly she could ruin him with six words. While Moody and Remus were enjoying the floor show as Sonny and Crouch stared at each other waiting for the other to back down Albus decided to step in. "We have had trials for accused Deatheaters before and some have even be proven innocent" Albus added though we all knew that Sirius was the only innocent man ever accused of being in cahoots with Voldemort. Before Crouch could defend his position of not giving Sirius a trial Albus continued while looking down his nose, "I also think it is wise to do so now that there is evidence refuting that Sirius was the Potter's Secret Keeper."

The calming tone of Albus' voice was grating on Sonny's nerves she understood the need to placated the self important Crouch to get what they wanted that didn't me she had to like it. Plus it was all part of the plan she would be unreasonable and Albus would broker a compromise getting them exactly what they wanted from Crouch. Having Moody, the head auror, on their side had been a welcomed surprise. "I will take it into consideration" was the best they got out of Crouch. Still they had other plans to force his hand that would involve more politicking then either Sonny or Remus had ever done. They left the office and were told to go home by Moody and Dumbledore while they work through other issues.

The couple departed the Ministry. Before they left London they went about spending a small fortune on things for Harry since the Godric's Hollow house had been destroyed. This included clothes, toys, a cot, training nappies and a million and one other things that a child would need. The extreme shopping spree was unpleasant and draining leaving both Sonny and Remus ready to collapse by the time they returned to the Manor after the long morning and the little to no sleep either received the night before.

AN:I picture Remus as learning to use his unassuming nature to his advantage and be more confident in himself because he has Sonny, who loves him unconditionally. I have read the nickname Blackie before in another fanfic on FFN but I don't recall the name of the story or the author because I would love to give them the credit they deserve. The phrase sharks are born swimming is something my sister came home from law school with I think it fit the Black family values as well as the power she is trying to project. Virtual cookies for anyone who spots the David Tennant reference I really couldn't help my self.


	7. Help from Beyond

Chapter Text

It was the next morning while Sonny was feeding Harry his oatmeal and bananas when the post arrived. Remus was too busy being fattened up by the aunts as they gave him plateful after plateful of chocolate chip pancakes to sort the post. So after she finished supervising Harry's attempts to get oatmeal into his mouth she looked through the letters while nibbling on toast with jam there among the pile of correspondence for the aunts and her mum were 2 letters one addressed to her and Remus and the other addressed to her. She opened the letter addressed solely to her and began to read. She groaned and rolled her eyes she was being summoned to Grimmauld Place for tea with Walburga, most likely so she could gloat about Sirius' alleged ties to Voldemort, something she was hoping to avoid like the plague. In fact the plague would be more preferable than a moment spent in that woman's company.

She managed to pull Remus' attention away from the chocolate so they could read the official looking letter addressed to both of them. It was from Gringotts informing them that they were needed for the reading of James' and Lily's will as well as handling any paperwork that would arise from the will. The letter also alluded to the fact Lily had amended it recently and that it would be helpful in aiding their cause. Dreading the idea of having to face the finality of a will both eager to see Ragnok, the goblin who was in charge of the Potter family accounts, and find out exactly what help Lily left for them. A small deeply macabre part of Sonny felt like she had entered a murder mystery all she had to do was follow the clues that Lily had left her and they could save Sirius the fate that was awaiting him if she failed. She quickly dashed off a letter saying that they would be by today to discuss the matter with Ragnok.

Telling the aunts of the letter from Ragnok proved that Sonny came by her sense of morbid adventure honestly as they provided theories as to what they would find when they were a Gringotts. The couple felt no need to dress up as yesterday and both left the Manor for Diagon Alley in more casual clothes simple trousers and a jumper for Remus and Sonny in jeans and her woolen coat.

They arrived in the Leaky Cauldron to find an uproarious celebration taking place in honor of the fallen Potters touched and slightly disturbed the couple quickly exited the pub and headed towards Gringotts. The Alley was packed and left both Sonny and Remus on edge they had spent too many years assessing situations to simply stop the habit and drop their guard. Sonny could see the tip of Remus' wand sticking out from his sleeve waiting should he need it. Now was certainly not the time to be lax with personal safety. Remus finally retracted his wand as they reached the entrance to the bank knowing how easy it is to offend a goblin. Sonny took the lead and greeted the goblin as the desk in gobbledegook, something the aunts had taught her stating that staying on the right side of a goblin was always a good idea, and explaining that she and the gentleman were there to see Ragnok in regards to the notice they received about the Potter's will. The surly goblin momentarily brightened at the sight of a witch speaking proper gobbledegook and grumpily led them to Ragnok's office.

The office featured paintings of goblin warriors and goblin made armor that sat in the corners framing Ragnok's frankly large mahogany desk. Sonny noticed that the desk was littered with papers as she a Remus sat in the chairs across from Ragnok. Clearing his throat the goblin launched into the tale of Lily Potter's visit to him only a few weeks before, "She came to me and ask that I amend the will and left in my possession items that she felt you would need shortly after her and her husband's death. I added what she asked, witnessed and filed the new will. So let's begin with that."

_The Last Will and Testament of James Charlus Potter and Lily Ada Potter nee Evans_

_We, James Charlus Potter and Lily Ada Potter nee Evans, of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter, being sound of mind and body declare this to be our Last Will and Testament. We revoke all wills and codicils previously made by us._

_Article I _

_We name, Remus John Lupin, as our Personal Representative to administer this Will and ask that he be able to do so without Ministry involvement. If he is unwilling to serve as our Personal Representative then we appoint, Sonia Artemis Cromwell-Black, as our Personal Representative to administer this Will and ask that she be able to do so without Ministry involvement._

_Article II_

_We hereby ask that our Personal Representative take this information directly to the Ministry: Peter Pettigrew was our Secret Keeper. Attached is information about Pettigrew including a photo of him in his unregistered animagus form which is a rat. Upon his capture we wish him to be taken straight to Azkaban and held in an anti-animagus cell. This will also clear are suspected Secret Keeper Sirius Orion Black. We ask to be buried in Godric's Hollow Graveyard attached is the plan for our funeral service. _

_Article III_

_We decree that the guardianship of our son, Harrison James Potter, go to his godfather Sirius Orion Black and his godmother Sonia Artemis Cromwell-Black. If either his godparents is unable to care for him the other may take full custody. Should both be unable to take custody then he is to go to Remus John Lupin (We don't care what the Ministry says we trust Remus more than we trust them.) If he is unable then Harry is to go to Alice and Frank Longbottom. Under no circumstance should he be placed in the care of Lily's sister Petunia Dursely._

_Article IV_

_All family heirlooms and wealth is left in trust to our son Harry may they let him feel closer to us when sees them._

_James hereby bequeaths and gives his chocolate frog card collection to Sirius Black for he is the only one who truly appreciates how awesome they are._

_Lily hereby bequeath and give her potions and charms work to Sonia Cromwell-Black may she complete the work I started._

_We bequeath Dorea Potter's engagement ring to Remus Lupin in the hope that one day he may pull his head of his arse and propose to Sonny._

_Article V_

_We ask that the Potter's seat in Wizengamot be held by Sonia Cromwell-Black until our son Harry reach the age of maturity, or some facsimile thereof, and can take over his duties as the Head of Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter._

_After completing the task of enacting this Will we ask that Remus Lupin stay on as estate manager. He will monitor the money intake and losses from the Potter's various investments as well as keep track of the properties. To do so he must meet with Accounts Manager Ragnok each quarter upon the conclusion of each quarterly meeting 250,000 galleons will be deposited into his vault._

_Signed by James Charlus Potter and Lily Ada Potter_

_Witnessed by Ragnok, Potter Accounts Manager Gringotts_

_Witnessed by Griphook, Chief Teller Gringotts_

_Updated and amended by Lily Ada Potter on October 25, 1981_

After Ragnok finished reading he handed the document to Remus, who took it with shaking hands, for the couple to look over. They had chuckled at the wording knowing exactly which part was James and which was Lily. Sonny took in the date of Lily's changes and knew that she wasn't taking any chances that something happen because of the great secret keeper switch and also that she had planned the entire service for them. Remus nearly choked when he saw that they had left him James' mother's engagement ring and the large sum he was to be paid for managing the finances of the estate. Without saying it in so many words James and Lily had made sure they were all cared for and together.

As executor of the will it was Remus who had to do most of the leg work. A copy of the will was sent to the Ministry so Sonny could be granted custody of Harry as well as a copy of the letter containing the information on Pettigrew. All the originals will be kept by Gringotts and a copy given to Remus to give to aid Sirius defense.

Along with all the other materials that Remus was shifting through were five hand written letters 2 addressed to Harry and one for each Sirius, Remus and Sonny. The envelopes for Harry were thicker suggesting that each of his parents had written him a letter one to be given to him on his wedding day. The one to Sonny was written Lily's tidy script whereas the ones to Remus and Sirius were in Jamie's messy scrawl. Sonny vowed to read it later instead of having an emotional breakdown in Gringotts. She then noticed the time and realized she would have to go as she had been summoned to Grimmuld Place. She made her excuses as Remus continued the meeting learning everything he would need to know to do his job as estate manager. He told her they would go over the details of the service that Lily had planned at home. It was funny how fast that the Manor had become home to him.

She found her way back out to Diagon Alley and became instantly alert once again surrounded by careless witches and wizards. She pushed her way through the crowds using both her body and some non-verbal magic. She finally found her way back into the Leaky Caldron using the floo to appear directly in the drawing room where Walburga Black was waiting.

AN: I used my sister's wills and trusts textbook to piece meal James and Lily will. Also I have a big thing for etymology something that is big in the Harry Potter series. Ada the middle name I gave Lily means love since Lily means Purity she pure love. Sonny's name and nickname are important Sonia is derived from Sophia which means wisdom and Artemis is a nod to not only the Black family obsession with Astronomy but also to her relationship with Remus as Artemis is the Greek Goddess of the moon. Her nickname can be miss heard as Sunny another nod to Remus' Moony. But it is Sonny as in Son or heir which Phineas Black, Orion's brother, lacks until he claims Sonny the bastard.


	8. Of Posionous Biscuits and Best Friends

Chapter Text

Arriving at Grimmauld Place as an adult was a stark reminder of all the horrible memories she had of the place. She cared for her father but he was weak willed and chose to walk away from the woman he loved to please them and had the silly little witch they picked for him not been barren, due to years of inbreeding, she wouldn't have even know who he was. Would she have seen him as he dropped her half-siblings off at Platform 9 ¾ or would she have seen him a shop somewhere never knowing that the tall regal looking man was indeed her absentee father. These thoughts always swirled around her whenever she stepped foot in the Grimmauld Place or as Sirius had dubbed it the House of Horrors.

Her aunt sat waiting in the drawing room Kreacher was pouring tea and had arranged a small tray of biscuits for the ladies to enjoy. "Sonia the one good thing about you is the fact that you are always prompt" Walburga said in lieu of a proper greeting. "Well it is good manners to arrive on time or slightly early when your presence is demanded" Sonny snarked back. "Come now child I had Kreacher make your favorite biscuits, Orange Pecan." Walburga told her pointing at the chair on the other side of the tea table. Rolling her eyes Sonny clarified, "That is sweet but Bella likes Orange Pecan I am deathly allergic to nuts." The demented beast chuckled, "Oh! That is right Bella does adore the orange pecan." Tired and hoping to get this over with Sonny asked, "You have forced me into your company, insulted me and almost killed me. Can we please end this farce and you simply tell what it is you want and make your idle threat to my father to get it."

"I want you to tell me if my son finally realized the truth about mudbloods, half-breeds and blood traitors." The women finally said. The plate of deadly biscuits shock slightly as she reined in her erratic magic after hearing Walburga manage to insult Lily, Remus, James, Sirius and herself all in one short sentence. "Sirius didn't do what he has been accused of and he will never come away to your way of thinking. Also the great Dark Lord that you supported so whole heartedly, the one who killed Regulus, was defeated by my mudblood best friend" with that said Sonny stormed towards the fireplace and apparated, through the centuries old Black family wards, before even getting halfway across the room.

She found herself in a park that she and Regan frequented as children. She was angry. Angry at Walburga, Voldemort, James and Sirius for being so stupid but mostly she was angry at herself. She had lost control of her magic and in front Walburga Black of all people how monumentally imbecilic is it to let that woman know how powerful she is. Had she not been in public she would have started ranting instead she found a bench and began to hit herself repeatedly in the head making her seem only slightly less insane than rambling on to herself about magic in a park full of muggles.

After finally calming she remembered the letter from Lily that she had pocketed before leaving Gringotts. Taking a deep breath now was as good a time as any to learn what her best friend wanted her to know.

_Dear Sonny,_

_If you are reading this then James and I placed our trust in the wrong man. Now before I say goodbye I need to give you one last piece of my mind because isn't that what our whole friendship has been me yelling at you to be less reckless and you telling to be less of a stick in the mud. Promise me that you will tell Harry all about me and James, the good and the bad. Never make me into a saint for that is the one thing I detest when a person dies everybody seems to forget their flaws tell Harry about how unreasonable I was to James, tell him about that big fight we had where I kicked you out of our dorm and let him know who his mother truly was. You're the only one who can do that the only one who saw us both at our best and worst. I am gone now and the burden of protecting our boys is solely on you again even if was just a little while I am glad to know them as they were warts all and lift the load of keeping them safe off your shoulders. Remember the day I asked you to be our secret keeper, I never got to finish that conversation with you. Promise me that if you have the opportunity to have your own family: do it. I will never regret having Harry I only regret that I have left him far too soon. I know about Remus' supposed fear about having a family but don't let it stop you and don't throw all of that love that you have at Harry if you do he will be worst than James was and then I will have to haunt your arse. Now that I have said my piece Goodbye Sonny take care of my son and be good._

_Lily_

Sonny was sobbing as she read Lily's letter letting out the odd laugh here and there. It was so completely like Lily to make sure she had the last word. It was true she would never paint James and Lily as saints especially since the almost entire wizarding world seemed to be doing it already. The thing about kids threw her completely. It seemed that during the time she was gone something had shifted in their little family at first she attributed it to the spy issue but that wasn't it and it annoyed her to no end not knowing what had changed them all. Between this and them leaving Remus Aunt D's ring was a bit too much. She had always loved that ring and had been a little shocked that James hadn't used it when he proposed to Lily but it was far too ornate for Lily's simple tastes. Also she couldn't help but wonder what was in Sirius' letter if she was a getting the marriage and baby push.

It was about 7:00 pm when she finally calmed enough to go home. She walked into the ladies loo and apparated back to the Manor. When she arrived she quietly greeted the aunts and walk straight to her room to change and scrub the day and the House of Horrors off of her. From the guest room/nursery a whimper echoed in her head and the halls as Harry awoke from his slumber. Instead of trying to put him back down she sat in the comfy chair with Harry on her lap and told him stories about his mum and dad both good and bad until her voice was horse and she could no longer speak another word.

Remus had spent the entire day at Gringotts. Thankfully he didn't have to leave to go to the Ministry in person he could only handle so much. Harry was properly in their care for good. He had spoken to Moody about the evidence Lily had left them and now just had to wait and hear from the auror about Crouch's reaction. The aunts had said that Sonny was with Harry and that she had been upset when she arrived home. The plans for the service could wait until tomorrow but he had to see if she was alright. He listened at the door as she talked and kept talking to Harry first it seemed to be about James and Lily and then it shifted to her simply ranting about life to the sleeping child. He stood until his legs couldn't hold him and then he sat as she said all the things she felt she couldn't say to him.

AN:Dorea Potter's engagement ring was inspired by the first ring shown here: /2012/03/04/sparkly-engagement-rings/  
>It's not overly large but I see Lily as a simple solitaire kinda girl. Also I am allergic to nuts and have one family member who never remember this and is constantly trying to feed me peanut butter cookies or candies with nuts I am convinced that she is attempting to murder me though what I ever did to her is beyond me so that is where pecan cookie came from.<p> 


	9. The Sacredness of Tears

She placed the sleeping child back in his cot and started to walk to the door. She looked down at Remus, she had felt his sadness as she put Harry down, he looked so lost until he saw her staring at him then he simply looked guilty. "I guess we have to talk" Sonny said. He nodded with the most earnest look she had ever seen gracing his moon marred features. She held out her hand to help him up and led him to their room. "Okay talk" she ordered.

"I heard you talking to Harry. Why didn't you tell me you were feeling so overwhelmed? You have put a wall between us both metaphorically and literally" Remus countered waving his arm toward the doorway indicating the actual wall. "Aside from when I passed out on Halloween and since we have been here you've had me sleeping in the guestroom so yeah we need to talk about what is going on with you" he added as she stared mouth hanging open. "I have nightmares bad ones. When Albus pulled you back for your mission Sirius stayed with me once he heard me screaming and came in to check on me by the time I was aware of what I was doing he was on the ground with my hands around his throat. Another time I fell asleep on the couch and apparently lost control of my magic when I was out he said the room started to quake. He had a broken lamp to prove it. I am trying to protect you" her answer started out strong but by the end the only reason Remus heard her at all was due to his superior hearing. "Protect me? By pushing me away, making me think that you hated me that was your idea of protecting me" he asked astounded by what she was telling him. He knew she had been having nightmares and been tense but to know that she was intentionally pushing him because she wanted to keep him safe was laughable until he remember being on the other end of the words he just uttered. How many times did he push her away because he was too dangerous, how many times did he hurt her so she could be safe?

"Yes to protect you just like I have been trying to protect people my whole life; All the while failing at it miserably. You know how long my aunt and uncle were abusing Sirius using spells on him to get him to behave... for as all I have known them. I told my father he did nothing and my stepfather wouldn't let mum get involved. Then Regan, you know what they told me when mum found out she was pregnant that I was going to be a big sister and that as a big sister it was my job to protect her. You found her that night didn't I do a bang up job of keeping her safe. Oh! then there was Regulus I never told anyone that he came to just before he died, Sirius wouldn't speak to him or even see him, he was 18 scared out of his wits and wanted out. You know what I did? I tried to turn him to get him to spy for the Order 2 months later he was dead. That's the person you want to lay next to at night" her tone revealed nothing but bitter anguish and self-loathing.

Remus never knew about Regulus coming to see Sonny. She barely talked about her relationship with him he always assumed it was because they weren't close but seeing the guilt in her eyes he knew she didn't talk about because she was afraid to lose Sirius. Sonny and Sirius had one of the strangest relationships. She and James were like brother and sister. He would tease her and spent a decent portion of their school years keeping boys away from her including Remus on one painful occasion. Yet Sonny and Sirius seemed to be almost the same person he knew her better then she knew herself sometimes and when she was having meltdowns he was the one who often talked her off the edge. She was his moral compass when he had trouble with the fact that the world wasn't as black and white as it seemed. They were just closer than her and James and Remus could never figure out why when he questioned her about it she simply told him they were each other's sanity.

"I mean why anyone would trust me with their child is beyond me. I mean I couldn't even protect my own. Then Lily had to write that stupid letter and they left you that ring. You know the day her and Jamie got married I asked her why? Why get married and have babies when this could end on the impulse of a madman. They asked me to protect them and I couldn't what use is all this power when I continually fail to look after the people that I love" she said begging him give her a reason not to hate herself. Remus took a deep breath processing all she had told him and said, "You have been keeping all of this in for a long time. I don't think you're a failure I think that the people in your life stopped seeing you and just saw the power and potential. They put a burden on you that you were not ready for and then taking care of people became such a part of who you are that as we all grew closer it seemed natural to try and protect us as well. You never failed me in fact there are times that I don't know how you put up with me." He had no more words that could comfort her for in their relationship she was the one who always had the words, always did the comforting and for the first time in months Remus Lupin truly hated himself. He hated that he was so selfish as to not see how much she held in and held back and that he never comforted her the way he should. They should've had this conversation over a month ago when she first found her way back to them but he took the cowards way and never pushed and then left on Order business, as if Order business made it okay to walk away not once but twice.

He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her. Her body sagged in relief at releasing its heavy weight and for the first time since she was sixteen she cried. She cried for Sirius, Regan, Harry, James, Lily, Remus and even Regulus but most of all she cried for herself. They lay on their bed as he whispered soft meaningless words of comfort and she cried herself to sleep.

AN: The title of this chapter was inspired by the Washington Irving quote, "There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness but of power. They are messengers of overwhelming grief and of unspeakable love." I just felt it applied. Yeah so Sonny spent a month and half with the dark lord and know she is just a little bit cray-cray but we love her away.


	10. A New Day

For first time in what felt like forever Sonny slept the whole night without a single nightmare or losing control of her magic. She awoke to find herself tangled in Remus' long limbs and his face inches from her own. She knew that the tears on her face had long since dried leaving her eyes and face crusted with salt. She untangled herself from Remus thinking, "Werewolf my arse the man is a bleedin' octopus."

She blearily toddled to the bathroom. There she found herself staring at her own reflection eyes red and puffy with salt tracks down her face for the first time in months she felt like herself. She never cried in front of people felt it to be a weakness. The emotionally stinted empath as Regan used to say she could understand other people's feeling but having to deal with her own was often a tedious and painful process. So she would push them aside until she was forced to face them often it was Sirius, who was doing the forcing, would give enough her time to titter on the edge before pulling her back sadly there were times when he was too late. She had to admit it was nice to have Remus hold her again. It was also nice to see him flounder to find the right words. She never took comfort from anyone even Sirius, who was there to make sure she didn't hurt herself; never offered words just listened to her rant.

She scrubbed her face raw until all the tears and emotion were washed away down the sink. Face pink and clean Sonny was ready to face the day. She quickly changed into jeans and long sleeve tee and tip-toed out of the bedroom not waking Remus. She found Harry standing up in his cot with his head cocked to one side as if he was trying to figure out the best plan of escape. Knowing his parents, that was most likely exactly what he was doing. Realizing she hadn't eaten anything since yesterday morning's tea and toast she scooped the child up into her arms kissing him on the head. "You wanna go get some breakfast? I think I could go for a full fry up and we will find you the baby version of a full English how about that" she queried of the giggling child in her arms. "'Onny, 'Onny 'nanas" he replied. "Okay we will include bananas" she told him sweeping down the stairs. She made her way to the kitchen to find that the aunts had gone into town and her mum was a work. She settled Harry into highchair and began to make breakfast or perhaps given the time brunch.

Pulling out pots and pans she was making quite a racket. First she set about frying an egg for herself and making scrambled for Remus and Harry. Putting slices of toast in the toaster she looked about and found they had no beans or tomatoes. She added two more frying pans to the stove for bacon and sausage. She was putting the eggs onto plates when Remus came down the steps bare feet on the tile announcing his arrival. "So was it the noise or the smell" she asked living with James and Sirius for seven years meant he could sleep through anything so the werewolf must have followed his nose. He snorted in response. "We are having a semi-full fry up, no bean or tomatoes" she told him as she caught the toast shooting from the toaster and putting it in a stack on a plate. He pulled out two glasses and Harry's sippy cup he pours himself pumpkin juice and Harry and Sonny get apple juice. Sonny and Lily never developed a tasted for the juice at school and it was something that they passed onto Harry.

He looked at Sonny as she flipped bacon and sausages she seemed lighter almost like she was before she was taken. She sliced the requested banana and began to mash it on to a piece of toast. She flipped the sausage one last time and plated the bacon everything was almost done. She was humming as she buttered the toast and put together everybody's plates. She gave him both his plate and Harry's two pieces of bacon for Harry, his toast cut into triangle with mashed banana instead of butter or jam and a small portion of fluffy eggs. She sat down and tucked into her own meal or four pieces of bacon, two sausages, a fried egg and jam covered toast. "Thanks for the juice. I put the kettle on and it's your turn to help him feed himself I haven't eaten since yesterday morning" she smiled at him.

She talked around mouthfuls of bacony heaven and told Remus that she had an idea but she would need to wait for the aunts to return home to try it. He told her about how Lily had planned the entire service part of him thought it was less about being prepared and more about sparing them the pain of having to decide how to say goodbye. Lily wanted a small simple service in the church in Godric's Hollow where they had christened Harry and been married it seemed a fitting circle to the brief but brilliant lives of James and Lily Potter. He then asked "What do you plan on doing?" "I have a plan to see Sirius to give him hope but I need supervision when I do it" she explained. "What are going to do? That reverse summoning thing and break into Azkaban or break him out" Remus asked nervous of what a determined Cromwell woman could do. "I am not going physically there is a way for me to transmit a version of myself to a place but I am weakened when I do this because my consciousness is in the transmission it is why I never used it to make contact when I was taken," she explained that it took a great deal of focus as she had to drop all of her shields to do this.

Just as she finished her explanation they heard a door slam. The aunts had returned from their jaunt into town where they would walk about and generally observe the muggle population all the while ignoring the names they were called. She called to them. They looked at her and said, "We'll get the book. You get an anchor and meet us in conservatory." Before Remus could launch his objection to the plan.

AN: Pumpkin juice always sounded so gross to me and apple juice has as much caffeine in it as a weak cup of coffee so yeah.


	11. A Sirius Risk

Remus grabbed Harry out of his highchair and followed Sonny as she ran up the stairs and into their room. She began digging through the jewelry box she had with her and removed a long silver chain with a medium size medal hanging from it. He guessed that this was her anchor, whatever that was supposed to mean. "You shouldn't do this. You admitted that you have been having trouble controlling your magic this is far too dangerous. I can't lose you too," Remus pleaded. "I have to do this the aunts will keep me safe and so will this," swinging the St. Michael medal in his face, "I need to know exactly what Sirius thinks happened that night, what he did, how he knew Peter had betrayed us and what the hell happened on that street with Peter because all that was left of him was his finger" she was not backing down. Sighing and shaking his head he asked, "How can I help?" She kissed both him and Harry pleased that he was backing down.

When they returned downstairs they headed to the conservatory, which had one glass wall with doors that led to the garden and green house, adjacent to it was a hidden door which led to the potion room and where the family grimoire was housed. The aunts had scattered throw pillows all over the floor making it look like a Moroccan restaurant. As they entered the aunts placed two small sachets on either side of the door that matched the six others strategically placed around the room as the autumn sun peered through the glass wall. The small sachets contained acorn, belladonna, fern leaf and fennel seeds these help to create a protective circle that also promotes the calm Sonny would need to project herself to Sirius. They then cast a _Protégo Totalum _as Sonny settled into the nest of pillows still clutching the medal. Remus and Harry sat on one of the three comfy chairs that lingered on the edges of the nest as the aunts sat in the other two.

The aunts began to guide Sonny into a meditative state, "Breath in deeply and then slowly release that breath as you release your metal shields. Breath in do you feel the shields lowering," Sonny nodded, "Now reach out and search your feelings and find Sirius." She located the humming noise that represented Sirius and followed it as it got louder and stronger. "Have you found him?" one of the aunts asked. "Yes" Sonny answered. "What are you and he feeling?" the other aunt questioned. "It's cold, so cold and hopeless, sad, guilt, innocence, fear, restlessness and anger. It hurts so bad I can't breathe" she answered voice quivering. "Okay, now picture Sirius and focus on him solely on him can you see him" they asked. Sonny could only shake her head. "Now go to him" they told her. Sonny's head dipped her chin to her chest proving that her consciousness was no longer housed in her physical being. If Remus didn't know any better he would have thought she was sleeping sitting up.

Sonny discovered she was in a narrow cell made of black bricks with bars to her left and in front of her was Sirius. His hair was matted to his head with dirt and sweat alongside his neatly kept goatee was dark stubble making his face appear to have hollowed but the greatest change was his eyes once clear and gray as the sky before a storm now held the thousand-yard stare of a man who had retreated into his mind. His overly posh clothes and great coat (that he always wore) were replaced with prison robes and a small part of Sonny died when he look directly at her and then through her.

It was not the first time he had hallucinated Sonny so Sirius attempted to ignore the vision of his cousin that stood before him and waited for the admonishing words spoken in the venomous tone she reserved for their other family members. Instead he heard, "Oh Merlin! What have they done to you?" softly escape her lips. His head snapped up and his eyes instantly focused on her. "You're real?" he gasped. "Yep it's me, Sonny. In the flesh kind of" she said cheekily. "How?" he asked. "Not important right now. You need to help me so I can help you. Tell me how you knew Peter had ratted to Voldemort. What happened between you two when you went after him? I had proof you weren't the secret keeper that got Dumbledore to believe you hadn't turned and then Lily put a note in the will saying that it was Peter not you who was the secret keeper. Dumbledore got Moody on board together with me and Remus we have been trying to get you out but Crouch is an arse" Sonny told him.

"You and Remus believe me" he stated a faint grin crossing his features. She nodded. So Sirius began his sad tale, "I forced them to use Peter because I didn't trust Remus. Peter had been telling me things," she nodded when he looked guilty into her eyes, "Deatheaters were surrounding my flat I knew they thought I was the secret keeper. Then one night, Halloween, they were gone just gone. I freaked and went to check on Peter, he was nowhere to be found but nothing was out of place. That was when I knew he was the spy and that Lily, James and Harry were in danger. By the time I got to Godric's Hallow the house was destroyed." Sonny looked at him, "I know Remus and I took Harry from Hagrid. I felt the connection snap between me and Jamie and Lily. I also saw the rubble in a dream I think I was seeing it through your eyes. We must have arrived shortly after you left to find Peter."

"I found James by the door. He didn't even have his wand, why would he try to fight him without his wand? I tried to see if he was still alive even though it was clear he was dead. I moved him to the lawn and went to check the rest of the house. Everything was a mess the nursery seemed to have the most damage so I went in and found Lily beside the overturned cot. Then I heard a wail. Harry was still alive and there was no trace of Voldemort. He had a large cut on his head so I healed it quick and brought him and Lily downstairs. Hagrid arrived a few minutes later and told me he had orders to take him to Dumbledore. I told him to take my bike and went for Peter knowing that Albus was going to take Harry to you and Remus" Sirius told her. "He was going to have Hagrid take him to Lily's sister but don't worry Albus and I had a long talk and Harry is currently with Remus," she told him, "Now what happened when you found Peter because all we have is a finger and a street full of dead muggles?" Sirius swallowed, "I found the rat and cornered him. I was so angry I swear everything went red. He started shouting Sirius how could you and then he blew up the street and everybody who had come out to see what the shouting was about I had just gotten my _Protego_ up but it was too late to save anyone," he shook his head in frustration, "He changed and went into the sewer. He could be anywhere." His story now complete Sonny told him, "I am going to take care of everything you are not staying here. I promise." She went to hug him before she remembered she wasn't there corporally. She looked down at the medal in her hand and vanished.

Her head shot up and her eyes sprung open. She was back in the Manor surrounded by pillows and her family. "I am back and we need to talk to Dumbledore and start spilling some Marauder secrets you know the one about Padfoot, Wormtail and Prongs. Especially if the Ministry got the evidence Lily left with the will" she said. The aunts started dropping the spells as Remus handed her Harry and moved to fire call Albus. "Oi! If anyone happens to have a headache potion or a paracetamol I wouldn't be opposed to it" she shouted from her position on the floor with Harry.

AN: Sirius' everyday clothes are based on the way he dresses in the films. I also think he would wear a long coat as it is the closest to robes that muggle clothing will come. St. Michael is the patron saint of soldiers and the medal is a way for Sonny to find her way back to her body hence the term anchor. I maybe doing a small time jump after the next chapter because ten chapters for three days is a little slow for me. All the herbs and their uses can be found here: .


	12. Meeting of the Minds

It was not 15 minutes after Remus pulled his head from the fireplace before Albus Dumbledore and Mad-Eye Moody were in the Manor living room watching Sonny place tea, sandwiches and sweets. She couldn't decide if it was nerves as they were about to spill some important secrets or if her good manners were just that ingrained that they had her serving tea.

She handed Albus a cup, light and sweet, and then she handed one to Moody and winked, "Irished it up a bit." The rough chuckle that the statement elicited from the auror startled both the headmaster and Remus as did the answering grin from Sonny. "Now what did you want to talk about?" Albus interjected. Remus looked to Sonny as she ran a hand through her hair a nervous habit before he straightened up and began to talk, "Sonny went to see Sirius. He thinks Peter is still alive in his animagus form." "We got the notes and pictures as well as the will- Crouch wasn't pleased" Mad-Eye told them. Albus seemed to have trouble with the fact that she had visited Sirius, "How did you see him?" "Projection" Sonny said as if that answered everything. Albus wanted more of an answer but knew not to push the girl for it. "He told me what happened that night. How he found Lily and James, why he went after Peter and what happened on that street" she told them. She recounted all that Sirius had told her and what it meant for the case.

Nodding and sipping the rapidly cooling tea Dumbledore listened before asking, "Did you know about Peter being an animagus?" Sonny and Remus shared a glance before she answered, "What if I told you that you had four unregister animagi running around school?" Albus choked on his tea he knew everything that went on in his school how did he miss this. "The boys would change so they could spend the full moon with Remus. I was the only one who could get a pass from Minnie to get all the books needed to learn the transformation and refused to help unless they agreed to let me do it with them. I never accompanied them with Remus though it seemed too dangerous given my form," Sonny explained. "What is your form," Albus asked. "A wolf, James was a stag hence the name Prongs, Sirius is a dog so he became Padfoot and Peter is a rat which leads to Wormtail. We were going to register after school but then there was the war and the Ministry seemed to be compromised so we decided not to as a way to keep the element of surprise," Sonny explained. "I told'em not to," Moody interjected, "It was hard to miss the fact that every time Sirius got caught in the rain he would smell like wet dog. I cornered them about it and when they asked if I was gonna make'em register I told them no and that they were smart not to give up any advantage." Sonny laughed, "I wouldn't complain about the smell. You never had to give him a flea dip."

"Will this be a problem in the long run for Sirius?" Sonny asked no longer joking being an unregister animagus carried a year long sentence in Azkaban. "We can keep it between us and if it comes out Alastor will testify that he told Sirius and James not to register," Albus added decisively to the group. "The aunts and I were talking and Lily planned a small private funeral but what if we had a public memorial service we could use the spectacle to gain support for Sirius and put even more pressure on Crouch and the Ministry and I am sure that I am owed a few favors at the Prophet. It's time I step up and start taking action as what may very well be the last in the Cromwell line as well as the representative of the Potter family," Sonny elaborated her plan to the group. She had to protect Sirius and get him out of that horrid place before the damage she saw became permanent. "You want to take it the media," Albus said part question part statement. "I will go to the Prophet only if the Ministry refuses to act on the evidence provided by the will. If he doesn't have a trial date by the end of the month I will do everything in my considerable power to make it happen," she looked right into her old headmaster's eyes, "You know very well what I am capable of when I am righting a wrong committed against someone I care about." Both Remus and Albus were pulled back to a darker time for the young empath. Yes, they knew exactly what she was capable of.

The group was amendable to the idea as the Ministry had to act on the evidence provided by the will if they didn't they had no problem letting Sonny loose on Crouch and the Ministry. With that the visitors left the Manor. It was nearly 5 and Sonny was drained from the extreme use of magic required to project herself and then lowering and raising her shields. She took leave of the room to go take a nap and didn't awake until the next day.

AN: This will be the last chapter before a small time jump. I keep bringing up Sonny's manners because when we are nervous or upset we tend to default into comforting behavior and for her that is those manners that are repetitive and mindless like making tea. The boys were afraid that in his werewolf form Remus would try to mate Sonny hence why they never let her come with them that doesn't mean she didn't attempt to on several occasions.


	13. Doing the Right Thing

It had been a week since James and Lily were killed and the funeral was in 3 days and Sonny felt that she had to do the right thing. She sat at the desk in the study and pulled out two pieces of stationary all the while cursing the good manners her mother instilled in her. She began to write to two people whom she doubted would appreciate the correspondence.

* * *

><p>Petunia Dursley was standing in front of her house checking her mail and spying on the neighbors, as one does. The mail was the usual assortment of bills, magazines and junk when she found a letter on thick creamy stationary with handwriting she didn't recognize. Debating between throwing it out and reading it Petunia's curiosity got the better of her and she added the letter to the pile and headed inside to read it.<p>

_Petunia,_

_You may not remember me but I am friend of Lily's. I am writing to tell you that Lily and her husband James were killed on November 1__st__. Their son Harry survived the attack is currently living with me, his godmother. I know you and Lily had your differences especially where magic was concerned and I know you two haven't talked since your parents' funeral but I couldn't in good conscience not let you know that your sister was dead. I know you want nothing to do with magic and our world a choice I totally respect. We will not bother you but as I said I felt you should know that Lily was gone. For reasons I am sure you know Lily and James were in hiding at the time of their death and as such Lily planned the service as a preemptive measure. The service is just close friends and family it will be held on the morning of the 10__th__ in Godric's Hollow in Devon she will be buried in the Potter family plot in the cemetery adjacent to the church of the small village. I am aware this is a great distance from your home but felt it only right to include the details even if you just want to tell her I told you so. Have no fear about my knowledge of your address for I have no plans to bother you in the future. I hope you live a long and happy life with your family as I plan to do the same with mine._

_Sincerely, Sonia Cromwell_

By the end of the letter Petunia does in fact remember the writer she was at their parents' funeral with Lily. She had even given her condolences to Petunia and accepted the nasty glare that she got in return. This stranger was raising her nephew and wished her well. She also knew Lily well enough to know that if Petunia did go to her sister's grave it would be to yell at her not to mourn her.

In the end Petunia dabbed at the few tears that had collected in her eyes at loss of the only family member she had left then hid the letter in a box in closet and proceeded to go about her day. She had to prepare a little snack for her Dudders before he woke up from his nap.

* * *

><p>Severus Snape was sitting in his office preparing to grade the papers of the dunderheads that he was forced to call students when a large tawny owl dropped a letter on his desk. He wearily picked up the letter unsure of who could be contacting him and he immediately knew who had written it.<p>

_Severus,_

_As I am writing this I can picture you reading it in your new office bemoaning the lack of potions talent. Attempt to be kinder to the kids Sev not everyone is a perfectionist. Lily planned the service for herself, apparently she had nothing better to do in hiding, it is on the 10__th__ in Godric's Hollow and they will be buried in the family plot in the cemetery attached to the village church. I know it will not be safe for you to come to the service but you should have a place to say to goodbye. Be careful._

_Sonny_

The fact that Sonny was telling him where Lily was buried touched something that was better left unexamined. The one thing he hated and kind of admired in Sonny was that she always saw through him. Even when Lily didn't Sonny did with a single look it was so unnerving. She told him to be careful of course she was the first and only Order member to know he was working as a spy. The one thing that she didn't know was that he had already said goodbye the night she was killed as he held her in his arms. No he had no need to go to the service or see her lain to rest next to **_Potter_**. He told himself he didn't have to contemplate Sonny's motives for the letter and went back to grading papers in a far worst mood then he started in. Surely one essay would be worth something higher than a T.

AN: I think that Snape and Petunia are some of the most interesting characters. Firstly Snape is a catalysis for the entire series and he is a wonderfully written and acted character. Petunia is an extreme of a sibling most of her personality and choices are a direct and opposite reaction to Lily. She wants to be special and when she realizes she never will be she shuns anything that is different but at the same time I think a small part of her loved her sister because she was her sister. I also think that at some point Sonny and Snape must have at least been able to be civil to one other because of Lily. Sonny is very clever when it comes to people and Snape is a master of deception so I want to be able to write more of them interacting.


	14. Saying Goodbye

The day of the funeral was mild autumn day that bordered on lovely considering the infamous English rain that was apparently nowhere in sight. If anyone could keep the clouds at bay it would be Jamie who was a force of nature in his own right. That morning she dressed in a simple black dress with medium height heels and let her hair fall in neat but messy curls that skimmed the bottom of her shoulder blades. She added simple studs in her ears and Regan's tiger's eye around her neck and her face bore not a stitch of make-up. She then had to dress Harry in the small suit she had brought him after snapping at the shop girl, who thought the baby suit was the most adorable thing in the world, when she asked what the special occasion was while ringing her up. Of course Sonny being Sonny told her, "The child's parents are dead." Then threw the cash at the mortified girl and stormed out of the store. It had been the highlight of Sonny's week. James was right sometimes she was a right and proper bitch.

The nearness of the full moon left Remus edgy and sore. He could barely lift his arms above his head let alone pick up Harry, who seemed to sense the change in him, as he cried for Remus' attention. She placed Harry on their bed as she helped Remus slip into his jacket. Out of habit and the need for comfort she smoothed the shoulders of his jacket and wrapped her arms around him burying her face in his back. He turned in her loose embrace and returned the hug using his considerable height to engulf her and press a kiss into her inky curls. Their eyes met as they steeled themselves to face the finality of the day. She slipped from his hold clutching his hand before going to get Harry from his position on the center of the bed.

When the small family arrived at the bottom of the stairs Nora asked, "Ready?" Her daughter gave her a caustic smile and replied, "Is anyone ever ready to say goodbye?" Used to the sharp turns of her oldest moods she nodded in agreement, "Does everybody have their wands?" With murmurs of yes the group took the portkey that Albus had sent arriving at the Godric's Hollow church. There were small arrangements of flowers, lilies and crimson roses, littering the church. Sonny hated flowers they reminded her of funerals and apologies. The only exception to her no flowers rule being the orange tulips that Remus gave her every year on her birthday. She breathed deeply through her mouth hoping to avoid the strong odor of pollen as she and Harry made their way to the front of the church. There amid the flowers were two oak boxes, not boxes, coffins she mentally corrected. They housed the physically remnants of James and Lily. Something about the idea of being confined in small space for all eternity made Sonny's skin crawl she had never been fond of small spaces. She understood that the soul leaves the body and moves on but still it left her unsettled. It was closed casket service which was for the best because they were all a little traumatized from the last time they saw the bodies with their faces frozen in fear. Albus approached the duo with news that Lily had planned for Remus to give the eulogy and asked that Sonny sing a hymn that she had never heard of. Remus was a great public speaker but she knew that asking her to sing had been a little joke devised by James and Lily because they would make her sing goofy embarrassing songs during their school years. Neither of them could carry a tune and took great delight in making Sonny uncomfortable by making her sing in public. Slowly people started to filter into the little church. Mad-Eye and another auror were at the doors keeping watch for potential threats. All the mourners made their way to the receiving line giving condolences to Sonny and Remus as well as attempting to get a glimpse of Harry. Sonny had to find a way to hold Harry, shake hands and keep some kind of physical contact with Remus as he slowly started to growl at anyone who came near her and Harry. Remus was embarrassed as the wolf seemed to be rearing his head, clawing at his mind to protect his mate and cub, but it dissipated as Sonny shifted Harry so that his arm would brush them both every so often to quiet the riot in his head.

With the last of the people having dribbled in it was now time to take their seats in the front pew. The pastor began his sermon and Sonny zoned out. It wasn't that she wasn't religious she had seen ghosts and knew there was an afterlife and she believed in God but raised a Catholic she often had trouble with organized religion. Too many conflicting opinions it drove her mad at times. As the pastor finished he then gestured to Remus, who slowly stood and made his way to small podium, and began to speak.

"James Potter was my best friend. In fact before I met James I had never even had a friend, not a real friend. When you've never had a friend before the fear of losing that friend can strike terror right into the heart of a naïve eleven year old. Over the years James proved those fears to be unfound and proved himself to be a loyal friend. So loyal that he couldn't even conceive the notion of one friend betraying another. Sadly it would be his fierce loyalty and refusal to distrust his friends that would bring about his tragic end. Now not only have I lost my best friend but another innocent friend stands accused of the hideous betrayal of trust," Remus paused and looked at Sonny and Sonny looked back reminded of why she fell in love with him he was always so surprising. "I will not go further into this because today is about James and Lily. Lily was probably the kindest person I know. She was a firm believer in righting wrongs and never held back her opinions on well anything. Together they shared an oddly wonderful love story and brought into this world a sweet good natured little boy. Today I don't mourn my friends, I mourn the life they could have lived and things they could have done and I mourn for the little family they built but never got to enjoy." He finished with a nod towards the coffins. Sonny could tell his composer was faltering as he sat down and slowly pulled her and Harry closer to him in the pew. She squeezed his knee to convey how proud she was and how much she loved him.

Then the pastor announced her song, which she still didn't know the words to. Handing Harry to Remus she stood and smoothed her dress. Walking over to the organist she whispered in her ear and went and stood between the caskets. "I know you were just told that I was going to sing a hymn but I don't know the words so instead I will be singing a song that has a special meaning to me and is appropriate for the occasion," she said. She closed her eyes and began to sing her song- In My Life by The Beatles. As she hit the first chorus her eyes locked with Alice Longbottom's. They both remembered the first major fight that the three of them had, who was the best Beatle? Of course Lily favored Paul; while Sonny preferred John and Alice being Alice liked Ringo. Something close to a chuckle escaped Alice as she listened to Sonny sing which led to everyone looking to see who had made the inappropriate noise causing a soft smile to grace Sonny's face. There were a few sobs and not a dry eye when Sonny finished but a short burst of laughter erupted when she turned and stuck her tongue out at the caskets in defiance. The move so utterly childish was exactly what James would have done had the roles been reverse that Sonny would put him such a position.

Finally the group made their way to the graveyard where James and Lily were to be laid to rest. The pastor said a few prayers and the bodies were lowered into the ground. Again people crowded Harry, Sonny and Remus to say goodbye. Finally as the last of the mourners left and Nora had taken Harry back to the Manor to warm up Remus and Sonny watched as the graves were filled. Lily had only picked out the headstones and the caskets but Sonny insisted on having asphodel planted by the graves because she knew Lily loved flowers. As the diggers packed the last bits of dirt Remus placed a lily on Lily's grave and a rose on James' and said, "Mischief managed." Sonny wrapped her arms around him because she knew, just as Remus did, that the Marauders had died with James. Still wrapped in each other's comforting embrace the couple apparated home.

AN: Sonny views of religion reflect my own. I don't mean to offend anyone nor am I singling out one religion. I respect your views please respect mine. I don't own In My Life.


	15. By the Light of the Moon

It was the day of the full moon. It was the first full moon Remus would spend alone in he wasn't sure how long. Towards the end only Sirius had joined in on his monthly transformation as James was either in hiding or with his family and Peter was constantly skiving them off (so he could be with Voldemort) so the last few moons had just been Padfoot and Moony. The idea of being alone again was making this month the worst he had dealt with in years. The wolf grieved for his pack just as the man grieved for his friends. The aunts had made arrangements in basement for Remus so he wouldn't have to travel to Hogwarts as the place he usually went was no longer safe.

Sonny had set up the room that had just magically appeared in the cellar to be similar to the conditions of the Shack so that Moony would be comfortable and feel safe in semi-familiar surroundings. The room was warded in every way possible for Remus' and everybody else's protection. There were rumors of a potion being developed that could help a werewolf maintain his human mind during the full moon Sonny prayed fervently that it would work and that she could get her hands on it. As she fixed the room she was working up the courage to tell Remus that Shadow would be joining him during this transformation. Though she was not officially a Marauder her animgus form was given a nickname just like the boys, Shadow because of her jet black fur and the graceful and silent way she moved when in wolf form. She was never permitted to be there during Remus' transformations they all agreed it was too dangerous for Shadow. This reason was utterly ridiculous danger was something that Sonny never shied from and often actively sought out plus she felt he would be even more dangerous to himself if he was alone.

She went up stairs and found Remus sitting in the library. He was white as a sheet and weak as a newborn it pained her to see him like this and again she was helpless to stop it. Taking a deep breath she approached him and said, "Downstairs is ready for tonight but we need to talk about something." Remus looked at her as if he already knew what she was going to say and then added his own thoughts to the conversation, "You want to spend the full moon with me. I don't want to hurt you but at this point I am scared to be alone too. I know you won't take no for an answer so you have to follow a few rules. Can you do that?" Seeing that there was not going to be a fight Sonny nodded her head quickly. She would do whatever to make sure that Remus was safe. "Good. First, come in after I have transformed. Second, let him smell you. Finally and most important if he attacks transform and get the hell out no excuses. Ok," he said explaining his conditions. "I can do that. I didn't put apparation wards on the room in case you needed one of us or so I could get out if need be. Remus I am not stupid and would never risk putting you in the position to truly hurt me not that I think you would," she told him. She stood and left him to ponder with the few hours he had left.

They ate quietly before she helped Remus down the stairs. The room that had suddenly appeared in the Manor basement was furnished with a bed, a chair, a dresser, a small kitchen which house a fridge and cabinets that held water and healing potions and the door had a small window. It looked like a little flat someone in Uni would rent until you looked closely and saw that the dresser, bed and fridge were bolted to the floor. Remus noticed all the work that was put into the room and he had to sigh it didn't look like a cage but it was. "There is water in the fridge and I put some clothes in the dresser so you would have something clean to wear tomorrow and the bed so you can recuperate and sleep once human before trying the steps and so you can lay down while mum and I work on healing whatever damage," she told him gesturing around like a real estate agent which proved to him how nervous she was about the whole thing. She wanted him to like the safe space she had created for him but she was never privy to this part of Remus when all the boys agreed that she wasn't to be near him during his transformation she respected that well to a point. She never told them about the night spent outside the Shrieking Shack during Remus' transformation and how she had absorbed his pain to the point where she passed out from it. She was younger and less experienced with her powers back then now she knew how to handle the pain if he needed her to. She looked down at her watch and realized it was almost time and turned out the door to let him transform alone as he asked.

Outside she locked the massive door and braced herself by the window as Remus went about his pre-moon routine. He stripped and placed the clothes in the dresser in the vain hope that they wouldn't be torn to shreds in the morning and then stood and waited. She glanced back down at her watch just as she took her eyes off Remus the screaming started. It felt as if every bone in her body was being broken, re-grown and broken again. Her skin prickled as Remus' body became covered in fur and her hands clinched into fists as his became paws. "My God", she thought as the pain scorched up and down every nerve in her body she had been captured and tortured for almost 2 months and this hurt more than anything she had suffered at the hands of Voldemort, even at his most sadistic. She was drawn from her musings by a howl and the pain left her body but lingered in her heart. She threw open the door, entered and locked it with a speed that astonished her and transformed quickly into her wolf form. The thud of the door captured Moony's attention as did the strange not pack wolf standing before him.

Shadow tensed as Moony stalked closer to her ready to strike if he found her threatening. The best bet when he was like this was to submit as a weaker member of the pack so she dipped her head under his graze. The black wolf quickly yielded to his superiority making Moony yip in delight. He inspected the black wolf discovering it was female. He scented her and marked her as pack. His own pack was in trouble and if he had to rebuild he would start with this female. The space was too small to play as he always did and it was agitating him. So two wolves began to play and wrestle as Shadow tested her strength.

As night turned to dawn both had passed out from physical exhaustion but Shadow had managed to lead Moony to the bed to sleep. Sonny awoke to find the now human Remus curled around her wolf form so she wiggled from his grasp and transformed. She went to the fridge to get a bottle of water. Her body twinged from the long time spent as a wolf but other aches reminded her of other activities that had taken place after the two wolves began to play fight. Now she understood why they were afraid for her in school, how could she have been so stupid as to not realize that was the true reason behind the unanimous decision that Shadow was never to be near Moony? She blushed, like she was 13 listening to Marlene expound on the wonders of broom cupboards, recalling all that had happened last night. She took a towel and transfigured it into a mirror. She was ok some bruises and a few scratches but then she tried to turn her head after hearing a noise come from the bed and it hurt to do so. Then she saw it on the back of her neck, a bond bite. Scenting is how wolves mark an animal as pack but a bond bite is how they claim a mate and wolves mate for life. A bond bite is different from an infection bite because of its location a bond can only be formed by a bite to the nape of the neck. The angry looking bite on her neck was better than a wedding ring because once claimed she was always Remus'. How the hell is she going to tell him about this? She was of two minds about it part of her was thrilled that on some instinctual level Remus wanted her forever and another part was weary because it was the wolf not the man who had deemed her his forever. She quickly applied potions and lotions to the bruises so they would be less noticeable by the time Remus awoke and changed into the clean clothes she had left for herself. She went over to the bed to inspect the damage he had done and found it to be minimal as well nothing she couldn't heal on her own so no need to call her mother for help. She covered him with duvet and pulled the chair closer to the bed and waited for him to wake up and debating between explaining what happened or not telling him at all.

_AN: Since he isn't taking wolf's bane yet Remus has no recollection of what it is he does when he is a wolf only the feelings associated with having a pleasant or negative experience. Also use your imagination as to what happened when they were both in wolf form because I couldn't bring myself to write wolf porn sorry._  
><em>The bond bite was stolen from the AlphaOmega trope that is taking over certain fandoms and this is possibly the closest I will ever get to writing it._  
><em>When Sonny and Remus are in wolf form they are referred to as Shadow and Moony as the Marauders are over the names now only distinguish between the human and the animal the same with Padfoot. <em>


	16. Lupin's Lament

It had been a week since the full moon and Sonny seemed distant but not only that she was running herself into the ground trying to do everything for everybody. She had started planning the public memorial service as a way to bring to light the fact that the person that betrayed Lily and James wasn't Sirius. Albus and Moody had told her to wait but she was done and so was Sirius. She had projected again telling Sirius that she would have him out before Christmas.

Remus wasn't stupid he knew something had happened during the full moon. He knew the minute he woke up without being as sore and achy as he always did. Sonny, who he vaguely recalled had been next to and tangled up in him, was staring at him as she sat perched on the chair that had managed to survive the night. She was a little bruised but nothing that she couldn't have gotten in a game of Quidditch or football. Still there was something she was hiding and it was bothering him to no end. Had he hurt her? Did she think he was a monster now that the knowledge of his lycanthropy wasn't just theoretical? He tried to give her space but then three days ago she did something so ridiculously stupid that he had to speak up.

*Flashback*

It had been a rather average Sunday morning. Remus got up after having a bit of lay in still gaining his strength after his transformation and chasing after a now walking Harry. Both he and Sonny had been relieved to see Harry get back on track with his developmental milestones he had only been speaking a few words instead of the constant stream of sounds and words from before Halloween and had even stopped crawling preferring to be carried by either Sonny or himself.

Stretching he got out of bed yelping as his bare feet touched the cold floor. He made his way to the dresser and put on some thick wooly socks his mother had made him when he was still in school before she died. He then headed downstairs to see how the ladies of the house were.

He found the aunts chatting about the local gossip in town and Nora was playing with Harry using her wand to animate and control the actions of his favorite stuffies that they had managed to salvage from the Godric's Hollow house. He asked where Sonny was and was pointed in the direction of the living room.

He found her still in her jimjams and wrapped in blankets and surrounded by cups of hot chocolate and candy bars. "What are you doing," he asked even though he had a pretty good idea what she was doing considering all the chocolate. "I am taking on Sirius' pain just for a little while so he can get a little sleep without reminders of my aunt and uncle and James and Lily. It's a way I can help him in the short term that I don't need help with," she explained her voice monotone and her eyes vacant.

Suddenly his less painful transformation made sense she took on his pain. That foolish, beautiful woman would be the death of him as he realized just how much she had been doing over the last few days. Of course she pulled him from his musings by asking him for more chocolate.

*End Flachback*

They hadn't discussed anything since that stunted conversion but Remus was going to have a long talk with his girlfriend if he could get her to sit still for five minutes and stop actively avoiding him because he was sure that was what she had been doing for the last 3 days. Remus had been a spy, a Marauder and was far more devious then his mild manner façade appeared so he came up with a plan. He had to corner her when she was alone to get answers out of her.

Remus had read Harry a story and put him to bed. He then silently slipped into his and Sonny's shared bedroom and waited for her to emerge from her shower. She padded into the room in her pajamas and a towel wrapped around her head completely unaware of his presence as she dug around the dresser looking for clean socks. That was when he saw it the nasty purple scar on the base of her neck and he knew what he had done. A savage pleasure bloomed in his chest at the sight but he pushed it away feeling horror settle in its place. Disgusted with himself he made to abandon his plan to talk about what was going on with her and tried to leave. The shocked gasp he let out upon seeing the mark drew Sonny's attention. Now it was her chasing him before he could leave the room, he got passed the bed before she was blocking the doorway and slamming it shut. "You saw my neck," not a question a statement of fact from the insufferable woman. "Why didn't you tell me when it happened," he asked. "I didn't know how to tell you because I was afraid of how you would react to it," she told him with her voice relaying the anxiety she had been feeling since waking up with a bond bite on her neck. "I am so sorry," he said feeling like he should apologize. He should have never given into his fear of being alone and let her join him now he had broken them in a way no reasonable conversion or shouting match was going to fix. "You have nothing to be sorry for if you want out I am sure that there are ways to break the bond," she said with her eyes fixed on some point beyond his head. Every fiber of his being shouts NO but before he can answer she continues, "I mean I get it who would want to be stuck with me forever I am unmitigated mess." Taking his time to let what she said sink in he answered, "No, I don't want to break the bond and yes, you are a mess. But you're my mess." She laughed at the statement proclaiming her to be his mess. The truth of the matter was that Remus knew he was not an easy man to love. His own doubts and insecurities had finally taken their toll on her normally unshakable sense of self. She wasn't angry about the bite she was terrified that he would get overwhelmed and walk away… again. For the first time in their relationship Remus had the words, "I want you forever. I am so scared of hurting you that in the end that is all I end up doing. Even when I am being an idiot never for one second do I want you to doubt how much I love you." She looked at him and smiled before wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him into a deep kiss. He broke the kiss to tell her something else before he was stopped with another kiss and a muttered, "I think the time for talking has passed don't you."

As he was led to the bed Remus' last coherent thought was that he had to corner Sonny more often.

_AN: This is all kind of Remus' POV how he feels and what he thinks about the situation. I think JK made it pretty clear that Remus is generally afraid to be happy so he is constantly pushing people away. In her timeline he lost everybody and is afraid to lose anybody else he loves. With Sonny he is younger and scared to lose the last link to that happiness and normalcy he once had (not that he doesn't love her cause he does). This was my attempt at him being self aware and selfish at the same time. It was suppose to be angsty but it turned fluffy on me_


	17. Keep Moving

Things had been better between them since her breakdown after the will reading but waking up with that bite had put her back at square one. He had trusted her with him when he was at his most vulnerable instead she had let him shackled himself to her for life. She snorted thinking, nice job Cromwell.

At first she had just given him a wide berth letting him recover which gave the bite time to heal and her time to research ways to break the bond because she knew that he was going to flip. The look he gave her when she had been channeling Sirius' demetors had been enough to insure that she couldn't tell him about the bond until she had found a way to break it. She just needed time but after her little emotional trip to Azkaban she knew time was one thing he was not inclined to give.

So she is ashamed to admit she started to actively avoid him. Running here and there doing this and that making sure they were never together and if they were together then it was certainly not alone. She had perfected the art of avoidance really she should get a medal for it or something. So in order to avoid him she started throwing herself into several different crusades. The first being getting Harry back on track talking more and getting to start walking as he had only been days away from before Halloween. Then she started planning the memorial service and pulling as many strings as she could to get fair coverage in the media and thought fondly of her Aunt Lucretia, they called it Blackmail for a reason. Both Albus and Moody warned her not to move against the Ministry yet. Frankly, they weren't doing anything to help and neither one of them was rotting in Azkaban now were they so she figured fuck it. She did anything and everything not to have to talk to Remus about what happened and started preparing to for when he would find out. She knew that if they talked about it he would leave for good this time.

Then he cornered her, sort of. She knew the minute he saw the bite and of course he started to run. Well before he did that they needed to separate completely. So she told him that they could break the bond. Yet he didn't want to break the bond. Then he told her how much he loved her and well for a girl who has spent most of her life waiting for the other shoe to drop it was exactly what she needed to hear.

So she let him go about "convincing" her- twice- to slow down. It was so odd that he would choose that phrase slow down when her whole life was about moving. If you keep moving you never have to deal with the pain never dig too deep at the issues. When she realized her stepfather no longer cared about her once he had a child of his own she threw herself into finding her real father. When Phineas only acknowledged her because of familial pressures she threw herself into playing the game ten times better than him. When Regan died she threw herself into revenge and when her mother seemed distant and lost to her she turned to the aunts and magic learning everything she could to be the best witch she could possibly be. They taught her that the only thing she could depend on was herself and her magic everything else is subject to the capriciousness of others.

She looked at the clock on the bedside table it was nearing 3 in the morning and she was wide awake, unable to stop the torrent of thoughts in her mind. Remus was challenging one of her core beliefs, keep moving never let'em see how much they hurt you. Except Remus didn't react the way she thought he would. He tried to mend the hurts he caused nobody had ever done that for her before it was nice but it was really messing with her world view. Then again that seemed to be something Remus was good at coming in shaking you to your core just by being him. After all hadn't her whole relationship with Remus been one giant leap of faith; asking him to push past his fears to be happy with her. It was time to let the walls down.

She rolled over and was met with Remus sleeping face. Her life was full of uncertainty for that is the very nature of life but if there was one thing she would put money on it is that if anyone was worth being still with it was Remus. With that decided she curled into him and gave into the terribly exciting and newfound impulse to be still.

_AN:Poor Sonny has trust issues and abandonment issues so of course she falls in love with a man like Remus. Also the thing with Harry not talking as much or clinging to Sonny and Remus is very common among traumatized children but he is getting better. I used the Black family tree on Harry Potter Wiki to get the name of Orion's sister I think that side of the family were politicos whereas Sirius' mom side was where all the nutters were._


	18. Geen Bad?

When Remus woke up early the next morning he was alone and annoyed. He thought that they had worked all of this stuff out. Sighing he got up and made his way to the bathroom for a shower and shave. His ire grew as he went about washing and scrubbing. He told and asked her to slow down but did she, NO. He was so angry that by the time he started to clean his face of the stubble that had accrued since had last shaved he cut himself twice. Now dried, dressed and cuts covered he went looking for Sonny.

Surprisingly enough he didn't have to look far she was in Harry's room cradling the small child to her as he crying uncontrollably. "Hush baby its ok. Aunt Sonny is here nobody is ever going to hurt you. It's ok. I love you," he heard her say as she rubbed small soothing circles into Harry's back. Harry's crying started to subside leaving him heaving for air as his small body could produce no more tears creating that odd tearless crying that children did where they looked close to hyperventilation. Just as Sonny started to murmur more soothing words Remus, anger completely gone, enter the nursery and said, "What happened?" "He must have had a nightmare. I got up at a quarter to six to pee and heard him screaming. I came in here he was asleep but screaming like the devil himself was at his heels. Then again if what he said when I woke him is what I think it is he may very well have been," Sonny added lost in thought still pondering the implications of the boy's cries. "What did he say," Remus asked unsure if he wanted to know the answer. "He said, 'geen, bad' over and over," she said as if it was completely plain what it was that she feared. Owing to it being so early in the morning Remus decided to allow himself to be unusually thick and queried, "Geen, bad?" "What is green and very bad in the wizarding world that Harry has recently encountered?" she countered slowly as if speaking to a small child. She watched as the pieces clicked into place as if she could see the gears turning in his head. "You mean to tell me that he remembers, that he dreams about it," he stuttered out completely dumbfounded. "I know. Shocked the shit out of me too," she added totally numb from the idea that this precious little boy, her little boy would remember the last moments of his parents' lives and his own attempted murder. Great she was just starting to move on from her own problems and now Harry was going through this never mind the shit storm they were in for when Sirius came home.

The same thing must have been going through Remus' mind as a soft, "Oh fuck" slipped past his lips. A small frown graced her face because Remus never cursed it was her with the potty mouth you knew things were truly bad when he dropped an f-bomb. "What are we going to do? He was just starting to get adjusted to it being just us," he said. "I don't. I just don't know. We should talk to the aunts they will know what to do," she took his head and squeezed, "We will figure this out. You and me." The words calmed Remus in a way he hadn't expected because for the first time they seem less like something Sonny feels she should say and something she wants to say.

He takes Harry, after realizing the shifting of her weight from side to side is not meant to be rocking the now sleeping child, laughing softly as she rushed out of the room to complete the task that originally pulled her from her slumber. "Sonny is so silly isn't she," he said to Harry who awoke during the transfer from Sonny's arms to his. Harry answered with a sleepy nod suggesting that he had probably only had a few hours of sleep before the nightmares had started. He decided to sit down in the rocker that the aunts had placed in the nursery and try to get Harry back to sleep.

Sonny returned to her boys relieved and face freshly scrubbed but still in her night clothes. She stood quietly and watched as Remus whispered to Harry in a goof voice about Sonny and how complicated girls were and that if he ever wanted dating advice he should go to Sirius. At that Sonny interrupted, "I think Sirius would scar him for life." It was odd, Sonny Cromwell, had a family because that was exactly what they were. She had never thought she would have children. She never wanted anyone to have the childhood she did and if it was one thing she was sure of it was that the Cromwell women were cursed with an inability to keep a man in their lives for a prolonged period of time. The thought had been cemented by the fears that Remus harbored about his "furry little problem" and when she had gotten pregnant she had considered what would happen she envisioned herself in this very room raising her child alone. Yet they were here raising Harry together ready to face the difficult road that lay ahead of the little family they were creating. Her heart ached at the lack of faith in him hadn't Remus proved he was the exception to so many absolute truths.

"We need to let him sleep some more and talk to the aunts," Remus told her as Harry still fidgeted in his arms. "Absolutely, I think Melanie would be our best bet she knows more about the mind arts then anybody she is the one who taught me how to control my empathy and build my shields," Sonny answered yawning the last word. "Which one is Melanie," he asked shocked to learn that the aunts had names. "The one that looks like an older version of my mum," she answered not really seeing the point to this turn in the conversation. Before Remus could continue Harry started to reach for Sonny almost falling out of his arms. She took him from Remus and sighed, "He is so not going back to sleep. So wanna go get breakfast and wait for the aunts so we can figure out our latest problem."

They headed down to the kitchen with Sonny carrying a now wide awake Harry in her arms. She settled him into his high chair judging by the time somebody was bound to be up soon. Remus set the kettle while she searched the fridge and then declared, "We have no eggs and no milk!" "So we will just have toast," he offered as a solution. "I have physically and magically exerted myself the last couple of days I think deserve some eggy toast and milk in my tea. You physically exerted yourself as well," she told him with a filthy smile her voice just shy of whining. "I guess since I am dressed I should pop down to the shops for milk and eggs," he retorted resigned to his fate. He headed to the foyer followed by Sonny and Harry. As he was putting on his coat she stood on her tip toes and kissed his cheek exclaiming, "My hero."

After Remus left she turned towards the kitchen to make Harry some oatmeal but switched direction when she heard a soft chuckle and a sigh. "That was so utterly domestic," Melanie was standing at the bottom of the stairs still wrapped in her dressing gown and her hair slightly askew. "I know it's disgusting," Sonny answered letting a smile light up her whole face. "You are just the woman I wanted to see," gesturing to the child on her hip, "We are having a little problem that I think your considerable talents are just what the doctor ordered," Sonny explained.

They walked into the kitchen and Melanie went about making Harry his oatmeal while Sonny explained the situation. "He remembers. We just don't know what to do. I don't want him to go through his whole life afraid to close his eyes or for that to be the only thing he remembers about his parents. What can be done," she said totally lost. Melanie's heart broke as she listened to the tone in Sonny's voice it was the same lost pleading tone as when she was young and would find an injured bird or stray and beg them to fix it and make it better. She knew that there was something that could be done she just didn't think that Sonny or Remus would enjoy that particular solution.


	19. No Simple Solution

"NO! Absolutely no way in hell are we doing that," Remus shouted at the top of his lungs to the shock and amazement of all the others in the room. After Sonny had explained the situation to Melanie they decided to wait for the others to wake up and Remus to return before they discussed solutions.

Phoebe and Nora came down and Sonny explained to them what had happened and most likely been happening for the last few days with Harry and his dreams. By the time she was more than half way through her tale Remus returned with the milk and eggs. Sonny whipped up a quick breakfast that was eaten in almost total silence as they all worked over the current problem at hand.

Then Melanie had started to explain the different things that could be done to help Harry which is when the shouting began. Remus had been dead set against the options that they had set in front of them and Sonny couldn't exactly disagree with him.

The first, less evasive, option had been to simply give him a teaspoon of dreamless sleep potion before bedtime. Sonny was against drugging him she remembered fighting against some of the effects of various potions in an effort to become immune to them. Eventually Harry would develop the same immunity or worse a dependency. At most it would be a plaster until he was old enough to deal with the reality of the dreams as well as find ways to cope and communicate them.

The second, more extreme, option was to create a wall around memories of Harry's first year. Essentially erasing James and Lily from his memory of course this was what had Remus shouting at the top of his lungs. "We are not basically oblivating him," Remus added to his rant. Before he could get a full head of steam going Melanie interrupted, "My boy, please let me explain. Sonny will go into his mind and build a wall around the memories they will be there just shielded from him. He will have you, Sonny and god willing Sirius to tell him about James and Lily. We can push away remembrances of Voldemort and Peter and protect him from this and when you and Sonny feel he is ready she will help him control his mind and deal with the trauma."

Now Sonny had a feeling this would be the solution when she originally suggested they speak to the aunts but she had the hope that Melanie would be doing the digging not her. She had been in people's minds before from James to her aunt Walburga to Dumbledore but they were all at least mentally mature if she did a single thing wrong she could seriously and permanently damage Harry from magical instability to mentally handicapping him. Of course Melanie didn't tell Remus any of this.

Both Melanie and Remus looked to her with expressions that read 'talk some sense into him/her' but she knew Melanie would only suggest such a thing if it was the only way and she was terrified that she would hurt Harry and just wanted to relent and let Remus take care of everything. In other words the time had finally come where Sonia Artemis Cromwell-Black was sick of being in control and being strong she had finally reached her breaking point.

She looked up and expressed her thoughts and fears, "Remus, love, she wouldn't have suggested it if she felt that it wasn't the best solution. Melanie, I just don't feel comfortable or confident enough to do this. He is so young one misstep on my part and he could be damaged beyond repair. If I consent to this Melanie you have to do." Remus looked shocked and turned putting an arm around her and pulling her close before turning back on Melanie.

His voice shook with rage, "How dare you ask her to do such a thing. It was bad enough when you, all of you, helped her project but now you want her to bumble around in Harry's mind when her magic doesn't have the pin point control it always has. Is that all you people see her as an unlimited power source don't you see how scared she is that she will mess up. You've raised her and after living here for a few weeks I am beginning to think you barely understand her."

Over the course of his tirade he had let go of Sonny and taken Harry into his arms as if he had to physically protect him from a threat and then returned to Sonny, who was looking at him with her mouth agape. Everything that she had told him, he had just spewed to her family in an effort to protect her from the damage he felt they callously inflicted. He leaned down and whispered in her ear, "That sharing thing that you did that was… good." At this point all the Cromwell women where in stunned silence until Sonny started to laugh almost manically.

"I shared my feelings like a real girl. Wherever they are Regan and Lily must be giddy with joy," she gasped out between fits of laughter. She tilted her head to the ceiling and shouted, "I am real girl." Remus looked at the other Cromwells and gestured to his hysterically laughing girlfriend as if to say 'see she is totally unstable'.

For their part each of the Cromwell women were in different mind sets. Melanie was depressed at the idea that Sonny would not only doubt her skills but judging by her reaction to Remus' outburst occasionally doubted the love and affection that they felt for her. Nora had always been fiercely proud of her daughter she was a talented and clever girl but she was also proud of how independent she was even as a little girl she always wanted to do and try things on her own but seeing how she shouted about being a real girl she couldn't help but wonder what that independence had cost her little girl and had she been a bad mother after all Regan took her own life unable to handle the harsh realities of the world and Sonny shutdown and shut people out. Phoebe on the other hand was applauding Sonny's breakdown and taste in men. For Phoebe, who always preferred bad boys, the young werewolf was a bit too meek for a fiery Cromwell but as he shouted and put them in their place and protected Sonny and Harry she could see he was far from meek Sonny, just like her mother and Melanie, refused to let a man help her until now. Maybe the way for a man to stay with a Cromwell was for him not to be a man at all what a novel idea.

Finally after a long silence where the only sound was that of Sonny and Harry laughing Melanie spoke, "I will do it. The only reason that I suggested Sonny, aside from the fact that I have the utmost confidence in her, was because she has an established mental and emotional link to Harry but if she goes in scared the very thing she fears is what will happen. That is if you are willing to agree to let me do this?" Sonny had already, sort of, given her permission for Melanie to put up the wall but Remus was still debating it. "Maybe we should talk about this in private," Sonny told him pulling him and Harry away from the prying eyes of her family feeling too exposed and vulnerable knowing that all Remus would be thinking about is protecting his family with the others staring and putting him on the spot.

They went back upstairs and the small settled into Sonny and Remus' room. Remus opened his mouth to speak Sonny place a hand up in a silencing gesture and then proceeded to ward the room against eavesdropping spells. With quick and efficient wand movements the Cromwells would not be able to hear a single thing they discussed in this room. She then waved that it was ok for him to speak.

"Tell me why you would agree to let her do this," he asked in plain terms. "I can't let him go through this. Remus, do you what it is like to be afraid of your own mind? Completely terrified to close your eyes, I don't want that for him and if we could get away with never having to talk about Peter or Voldemort I will be glad to do so. I know you're mad at them right now but I trust Melanie completely with this," she told him sincerely, "Now what are your objections specifically?"

"I just feel that if we do this we will be kind of erasing James and Lily and I don't want that. Then there is the meddling inside someone else head. I know we can do the dreamless sleep plan it would be no good and if he is like you and James he will just develop immunity to it. If that happens we will just end up back here discussing this mind wall thing. Your fear of damaging him was that because it could happen or were just you being scared," he explained his worries and feelings on the subject as Harry fell asleep on their bed.

"The mind is a very delicate thing and my fears were not completely unfounded. Maybe I am pushing a little strongly with this because of Regan. The aunts offered to put a wall around the attack and the trial just enough to ease her pain but my step father refused part of me knew it was because of his general dislike of magic but another knew it was because she needed to learn how to cope with it. In the end she killed herself and I just feel that if he hadn't been so obstinate about magic and her mind she may very well be alive today. So if you feel that I am pushing that is why," she explained.

Before the conversation could go further Harry began to whimper and cry in his sleep. She scooped the sleeping child into her arms and set about calming him the way she had the night this all began. "I could just keep using the bond to block the negative emotions and help him sleep," she said as if the idea had just come to her. "That would require you to watch over him as he slept meaning you would not sleep at all plus just like the potion it will only be a momentary fix for the problem," he said. That moment had sealed his decision he was going to let them put in the wall.

He quickly dropped the wards on the room and made his way downstairs Sonny still in their room with Harry. He found the women just as they had left them pensive and silent, "We will let you do it on one condition you only wall up the night James and Lily died that is my one must and I think it isn't unreasonable." After hearing how they planned to block a few months from Regan surely they could block just one night. Melanie was the one who answered, "I won't know until I get in his head how tangled with that moment his other memories are but if just the one night is possible than that is what I will do." Remus nodded to show that he understood as Sonny had said the mind is a delicate thing that works in mysterious ways. He turned to head back upstairs to Sonny and Harry but before he did he added one more thing, "Don't fuck this up because I don't think Sonny would ever forgive you."

AN: Yeah, so as Remus said before the Cromwells are weird even by wizarding standards and I don't see it as a stretch that Sonny would dose herself with random potions in an effort to build immunity to them between her own need for control and the upcoming war. I also wanted to bring in the new emotion growth between Sonny and Remus.


	20. The Wall

That afternoon after Sonny and Harry caught up on some much needed sleep they finally sat down to have Melanie put up the wall.

As she had explained it Sonny would hold Harry and offer comfort while she set about exploring his mind and constructing the wall. Sonny would have to maintain the emotional link between her and Harry the entire time while Melanie would have to move slowly and cautiously to prevent damage. The process was draining and time-consuming. Nora was also on standby in case a healer was needed for any of them. While that should have helped put Remus at ease it in fact only increased the anxiety that had been developing since he returned upstairs and found Sonny and Harry asleep on their bed.

Sonny took a seat with Harry in her lap, "Ok little man let's find out what is going on in that head of yours." She took a deep breath and began to let the two of them feel as one. Sonny was to not only calm Harry but let Melanie know when she was close to the memory by sensing his fear. She wasn't technically in Harry's head like Melanie would be still it was an intense process.

Since Melanie, like Sonny, was a natural occlumen and legilimen therefore she didn't need her wand or a spell and it was far more advanced than anything a trained legilimen or occlumen could do it was almost as if Melanie was stepping into Harry's mind and taking a stroll. "Let's begin," Melanie said before she slipped into Harry.

*Inside Harry's Mind*

Melanie was shocked to find a flimsy set of shields and a gallery like structure in the small child's mind it was not that different from the first time she visited Sonny's mind apparently she would be giving another child lessons in the mind arts.

While she was not expecting this it was still easy to move past the shields and she began to maneuver the gallery. She saw happy memory after happy memory but she also saw the stress that war had put on the adults in his life through his eyes. She saw James and Lily fighting, Remus looking worn and aged, Sirius' increasing depression and paranoia, Peter's lies and Sonny looking broken and adrift.

It turns out that Sonny's warning that she was close was not needed as she could tell that she was getting closer judging from the looks of the people in the memories.

She finally made it to the memory of that night she saw James shout for Lily to take Harry and run. The foolhardy boy didn't even have his wand. Lily tried to get out with Harry but they were quickly trapped. She begged, pleaded and ultimately gave her life for her son. The memory continued as she saw the vile creature turn his wand on Harry and uttered those unforgivable words.

What Melanie Cromwell saw next shook her to her very core. The curse rebounded and a wraith like figure was all that was left of the so-called Dark Lord. He disappeared through the gaps in the wreckage. She saw a young man in black robes start cradling Lily's lifeless body ignoring the screaming child in the crib he soon escaped when he heard the loud anguished cries of Sirius. This is where the anxiety for Harry ends.

Just beyond that memory is something dark, leeching on the boy's mind. She set about putting that as well as the memories of those last few months and that night behind the carefully constructed wall that would hold until it was time for Harry to know the truth.

*Exit Harry's Head*

Two days later the trio finally awoke from their healing sleep as Nora called it. Remus called it a coma. While Remus was feeding a very hungry but much happier Harry Melanie came to see Sonny who was drying her hair in her room. "Honey, we need to talk," she told Sonny as she stood behind her. Melanie reached out for the hair brush that was in Sonny's hand took it and began to run it through the girl's long dark hair. It was something she had done for her as a child not only for Sonny but for Nora and Regan as well an act of comfort.

So Sonny sat in the room that had once been solely hers and listened to Melanie describe what she found in Harry's mind. She told her about the happy memories, the struggles that James and Lily went through as the threat became more real, and the heartbreak at the sight of her so frail and broken. She also explained how Harry had rudimentary shields and with some training his mind would be as impenetrable as Sonny's own steel walled labyrinth.

Then she explained what she saw that night she talked about how brave and foolish James was to try and take on Voldemort without a wand, "A true Gryffindor," she added. Of which Sonny already knew from Sirius' recollection of how he found James. Then she told her about Lily pleading for Harry's life and how after he killed her Voldemort laughed. She described the way he was destroyed, "Albus is right about one thing he is still out there. I saw it with my own eyes." They spoke about the young man in black when Sonny asked for more about him she replied, "His hair could have used a good scrubbing." Alarms went off in Sonny's head; Severus Snape was in Godric's Hollow that night.

What was most alarming was the darkness that Melanie described as leeching on Harry's mind. Something about it seemed familiar but Sonny try as hard as she could was unable to place what was niggling at the back of her mind. Melanie assured her that behind the wall it couldn't hurt Harry. Until Sonny could remember why that seemed familiar Melanie's words would have to be enough.

AN: The Horcruxes are still in. I don't know whether Harry's shields are because of Voldemort's power like the parseltongue or because of Sonny blood adopting Lily what do you guys think it should be. Behind the wall is the time from after Harry's first birthday to Sirius showing up on Halloween because he would make Harry feel safe.


	21. A Change of Plans

Before her talk with Remus and the issues with Harry Sonny had managed to put together a slap dash memorial service for James and Lily; it was not only to be a memorial for the slain couple but a memorial for all those who fought and gave their lives in an effort to stop Voldemort.

Of course a public memorial service was just that open to the public and with Death Eaters still walking free it was extremely dangerous. Sonny had not thought of this until Remus pointed it out and she couldn't afford to be killed right now. Thankfully she had been unable to find a place big enough and had been hoping to use Hogwarts hence why she had set up a meeting with Dumbledore. Now that she had nixed the memorial idea she needed some way to get the press interested in talking with her but the only way to do that was to come out as Harry's guardian which she refused to do. She knew people would ask about Harry her intention was to say that he was with family which isn't a lie. Most would believe that they meant Lily's family very few knew that the Potters and the Cromwells were distantly related and nobody outside of Albus and Remus knew about Sonny accidentally adopting Lily.

Instead Sonny had not cancelled her appointment with Albus. She told him about Harry's dreams and some of what Melanie had told her. Specifically that Snape was there and about Voldemort's disappearance. She had also made plans to have lunch with her former Transfiguration professor, Minerva McGonagall, who had been a good friend of her mother's from when they were in school. Though there was a three year age difference and they were in different houses they managed to forge a great friendship and McGonagall had always kept an eye on the Cromwell girls during their time at Hogwarts.

The plan was to explain to Aunt Min what had happened with Sirius and let the local Hogsmeade gossips, Madam Rosmerta specifically, to spread the word. By the time the week was out Rita Skeeter would be begging for an interview.

After leaving her meeting with Dumbledore, which left him summoning the spy come potions master, she headed to McGonagall's office to ask if she was ready for lunch. When she arrived she found Aunt Min ushering a shame faced boy out of her office he couldn't have been more than a third year. The stern glare on the woman's face morphed into a small smile at the sight of one of her favorite students and Sonny turned to the boy and spoke out of the corner of her mouth, "If I were you I would get while the getting was good." The boy zoomed off with a muttered thank you which caused both women to laugh. As Sonny settled into the chair across from Minerva's desk, one which she had sat in numerous times as pupil, Minerva began to talk, "So Sonny, patron saint of troublemakers, what would you like to do for lunch go to Hogsmeade or dine in the Great Hall." "Hogsmeade, you need to get out of the castle a bit. But first if you have an questions about Harry ask them now we don't want people to know he is with me and Remus even the people at the funeral all thought he was being taken to live with family," Sonny told her. "But there's the kicker you are family," Min added. "Within every good lie there is a grain of truth. James and Sirius never did learn that," seeing the look on Min's face she quickly added, "Harry is adjusting well. We have had a few bumps but we are all learning and it helps that mum and the aunts are there to help." "So shall we go," Minerva asked and they headed out to Hogsmeade.

They settled into a table at the Three Broomsticks and began to chat about life. While her slip of Sirius' name in McGonagall's office was not planned it had planted the seed in Aunt Min's head to start asking questions about him or just generally ranting her opinion. Finally after their drinks were brought and they had some semblance of privacy Minerva began her questioning, "How can you so casually talk about Sirius and James after all that he has done. For Merlin's sake he was in league with You-Know-Who."

"Say his name Minerva the fear of the name only increases the fear of the thing itself. Plus I talk about Sirius so casually as you put it because he wasn't working for Voldemort," the woman opened her mouth to try and tell Sonny how wrong she was but the girl just plowed ahead, "it was Peter. I know this because Lily asked me to be the Secret Keeper because Sirius wanted to use himself as a decoy. I was still too weak to handle the charm and they went with Peter instead. Lily put it in the will. I have shown the memory to Dumbledore as well as the will but the Ministry refuses to give him the trial he deserves. That is why I have been meeting with Albus so much he is giving me progress, or lack thereof, reports."

Minerva McGonagall sat there as her former student made an impassioned case for her imprisoned and innocent cousin. "The worst thing is that everybody that knows him just wrote him off with an all Blacks go dark eventually. That hurts the worse because if you could all believe that of him what makes me any different," Sonny added her words relaying the fact that this is the first time she ever uttered those words aloud.

Of course Minerva began comforting the girl and asking what she could do to help the scene was being observed by Rosmerta, who had heard the whole conversation and would undoubtedly rely it whoever would listen. After sometime the duo finished their lunch and departed Minerva heading in the direction of Hogwarts and Sonny heading towards the floo in back of the pub.

It was exactly three days later when she received an owl from Rita Skeeter asking if she would be willing to speak about her belief that her cousin was innocent. She agreed to meet her in the private parlor at the Leaky Cauldron. Sonny had gathered enough information on Skeeter to be able to insure that the interview was totally in her control.


	22. Op-Ed

_Sirius Black, innocent?_

_We all know that Sirius Black, the supposed right hand man of You-Know-Who, betrayed his good friends James and Lily Potter or did he?_

_Sonia Cromwell-Black has come forward to protest her cousin's imprisonment and she decided to speak to yours truly about it. Black was accused of betraying James and Lily Potter to You-Know-Who as well as the murder of Peter Pettigrew and 12 muggles. Black was also a decorated auror with many commendations for heroic acts in the war against You-Know-Who. Sonia is a charming witch whose amethyst eyes display a great many emotion the most obvious being righteous anger. "Sirius would never join up with Death Eaters. His unwillingness to do so is the reason he was a homeless runaway at 16," Sonia spills of the notoriously private Black family. _

_She has come to the Daily Prophet to appeal to the people for justice as her cousin has been sent to Azkaban without a trial something that all other accused Death Eaters have had as this reporter has been covering them. She has been petitioning the Ministry for her cousin's release since the morning of November 1__st__. Albus Dumbledore and Auror Alastor Moody have been helping her but the Minister and Barty Crouch have been stone walling the group despite the fact that Sonia has provided concrete evidence to prove that her cousin is innocent. _

_"What really gets me is that they know he is innocent but instead of trying to find the person who actually did betray James and Lily and is secretly a Death Eater they just saw the name Black and that was good enough to lock him in Azkaban for life. He is more than his last name," Cromwell-Black added oozing indignation._

_This reporter has not seen the evidence that Miss Cromwell-Black has but she has a point. Every other person alleged to be a Death Eater has had a trial. Why is the Ministry so afraid to give Sirius Black his day in court? _

_By Rita Skeeter _

The three Cromwell women and Remus were all gathered around the kitchen table reading that morning's Daily Prophet. Sonny was helping Harry with his breakfast but her face displayed a look of unholy glee. Skeeter's piece was probably the most balanced and sublet bit of journalism she has ever written. The fact that Sonny was giving her scoop and blackmailing her improved her writing greatly. "You know you just fired the first shot in a war with the Ministry don't you," Phoebe asked. "When I needed someone and the people who should have been there weren't it was Sirius who was and I will not abandon him. If I have to go to war with the Ministry so be it," Sonny's tone was final as she turned away from them and back to Harry and his banana covered face.

Hogwarts was abuzz with the news of the fact that not only was the Headmaster helping to prove Sirius Black was innocent but also the fact that he was never even tried. It was the talk of the school. All the professors had a great deal of respect for the former trouble maker and adored the outspoken witch all except one. Severus Snape was not pleased in any way of the developments that his boss was helping to try and free that mutt. He never understood why that idiot Black inspired the kind of loyalty that he did but he deserved to be in jail. Since he didn't have classes until mid-morning he decided to write a letter to an old friend. She had contacted him maybe it was time to write back.

Kreacher slowly brought his mistress her breakfast and morning paper. He set them before her on the table and quickly left to the kitchen. He then heard the scraping of a chair on hard wood floor, the swinging of a door and the rumbling crack of a curse. It seems he would be cleaning plaster off the floor of the tapestry room.

Molly Weasley was fuming. Sonny was bad mouthing the Ministry to the Prophet. Sirius wasn't innocent. She knew it in her bones that those two were lying and taking advantage of Dumbledore's kindness and belief in second chances. She couldn't believe that she let that woman watch her kids.

Arthur simply let her rant as he read the article if Dumbledore was behind it then chances were that Sonny, who the children loved, was telling the truth. Plus he should have been given a trial. Innocent until proven guilty isn't that what the muggles say.

Phineas Black had a less dignified reaction to his daughter's interview than his sister-in-law. Coffee shot out of his mouth and across the table. He knew that Sirius would never betray his friends to Voldemort so his pleading innocence made sense. Yet for Sonny to spill family secrets like that is far beyond the scope what was needed to be said. Then the fuckwit his family forced him to marry start to talk about how shameful Sonny was. He knew it was bad but did she have keep going on about it and frankly if she had proof and the Minister is not giving the kid a trial then he will be taking up his nephew's defense both in court and in the public eye. If his daughter could go to that awful Skeeter woman then he could start fighting for what he wants and maybe even earn his daughter's respect.

In a cold Manor House in Wiltshire, Narcissa Malfoy nee Black hid her smile behind her teacup as her husband read his morning paper. She will never understand how that girl ended up a Gryffindor.

Across the country in a suburb of London Andromeda Tonks was alerted to the article by her husband Ted, a self described news hound. She had taken the accusations against Sirius at face value. When she was disowned she never contacted any of her family including the ones who would have accepted her like Sirius and Sonny they were far too young to put in the middle of her drama. People change, he could have bowed to the pressure like Phineas had.

By noon the Minister of Magic had her office peppered with howler ash and owl poop. It seemed that people were not pleased to find out that a decorated auror and war hero had been denied a trial after being accused of murder and treason especially considering the fact that other Death Eaters with deeper pockets or willing to names were walking free. Others were supportive of the Ministry decision to lock Black up but not many. Sighing she called for her secretary to have Barty Crouch come to her office. They needed to talk.


	23. An Unexpected Ally

They had reinforced the wards on the house to not except unfamiliar owls. So, the fact that only two owls were perched on the windowsill was not shocking. It was the owners of the birds that were shocking. One was Minerva McGonagall's and the other belonged to Phineas Black.

Sonny took both letters and gave the owls each one treat and Minerva's some water because of the long journey it had taken as they sat perched resting and waiting for replies which was even odder. She quickly tore into the letter from her father in hopes of getting the bad news over with first. It wasn't the long rambling letter that she had expected it was a simple note that asked that she come to the house to speak with him in person and that Archimedes was waiting for her to reply with a date and time but the soon the better. She scribbled down that she would be there at three in the afternoon and that Remus would be coming with her. She gave the note to the owl and off he went.

The letter was in fact not from Minerva but from someone extremely clever and with access to her owl, Snape. It was the trick she had assumed her aunt had used by delivering a message via her father when she first saw Archimedes. Well right trap, wrong Slytherin, she thought as she began reading Severus' letter. She snorted as she read the rant that the potioneer has scribbled down in a rage. She could tell it was written soon after he saw the article this was not the same neat scrawl she had seen during classes. While she was annoyed by the venomous words on the spare parchment it also made her feel safe. Severus Snape hated Sirius Black and the feeling was mutual it was one of those unchangeable facts of life like the fact that the sky was blue. She had better things to do then deal with a man who was trapped in his past and she was sure that Sirius had bigger problems than the ire of Snape and she told him as much.

She informed Remus that they had an appointment at three with her father. He was playing with Harry on the living room floor making colorfully sparks to entertain the little boy and his only response was a lift of his eyebrow and a nod. She then promptly dropped to the floor and joined the two of them in their fun. She could pass hours, no better yet days like with Harry and Remus pretending that everything was all right. Sadly, the clock chimed half past 2 and Remus got up intent on changing for their meeting. Sonny stopped him, "We go as we are. We are no longer children seeking his help or his approval. I am wearing jeans and you can stay in your everyday clothes." He gave a soft smile and kissed her before asking, "Do you think he wants to reprimand you?" She was still sat on the floor legs twisted like a pretzel, Harry was banging his blocks together and she looked up at Remus and answered, "I don't know what he wants. I don't understand him and I don't think I ever will." Remus didn't comment on it but he heard the sad tone in her voice. This was one of the lesser but no more painful tragedies in the Black family that father and daughter could never understand one another but both desperately longed for the love of the other. When he was a boy he feared Phineas Black, now as an adult he pitied him.

With a sigh he joined the two on the floor and then waited for the time they had to leave to face the music. Sometimes when it was just him, Sonny and Harry it felt as if the world outside the confines of this house no longer existed. When either of them had to leave the piece of calm they had forged for themselves was broken and he tried to enjoy it as long as he could. It was now a quarter to 3 and they had to leave he stood as Sonny cuddled Harry into her arms. The boy was clearly ready for a nap as he nuzzled into her neck sighing. Remus helped lift the duo off the floor and Sonny headed upstairs to put Harry down while he went to alert Nora to the sleeping child and the fact that they were leaving.

As Remus explained that they were meeting her ex he noticed a change in Nora's demeanor. It wasn't uncommon for her to have a reaction to the mere mention of Phineas but she was usually more subtle. Sonny once told him that it had taken a lot for her mother to let her see her father and that it had been a long battle before she was even allowed to be alone with him. Now though there was no hatred instead a subdued sadness. She let him know that she would listen for Harry and before she could add anything else Sonny was strolling into the kitchen holding their coats. Nora bit back what she was originally going to say and wished them luck.

As the couple walked toward the fireplace in the sitting room he turned to Sonny and asked, "Did you notice how your mum gets when you bring up your father?" "She looked kind of sad and just a little bit annoyed," Sonny countered. Remus nodded that those were the exact emotions he saw drift across Nora's face. "It's because she still loves him and hates herself for it. When I was younger and she was still with Cal it was easy to pretend to hate him. It's like Phoebe always says it's a fine line between love and hate both are deep passionate emotions. She hates that she doesn't hate him," she completed her psychoanalysis of her mother and grabbed some floo powder from the odd little pot that they kept by the fireplace it had originally been a matchbox that Sonny had attempted transfigure the summer before she left for Hogwarts.

She stood in the floo and called out her father's address. Remus was still trying to process the ton of information that Sonny had given him when she disappeared in green flames. He grabbed some powder and disappeared.

They both were greeted by the sight of Phineas Black sitting in his leather wingback chair glaring at the fireplace his hands under his chin. The entire scene eerily reminiscent of the way Sonny had greeted Albus the night James and Lily were murdered. It never failed to amaze Remus how much of a Black Sonny was for having never even met her family until she was almost seven. She looked like an almost carbon copy of Nora but most of her mannerisms came from the man she claimed she would never understand.

Just as Remus smiled at that thought the moment was ruined when Phineas' wife entered the study. Upon seeing them she began to rant on to Sonny about her betraying the family and called her a bastard. Before either man could intervene Sonny raised her hand and began to speak. Her voice took on a cold cruel tone that she used that day at the Ministry with Crouch, "Please do not talk to me about what it means to be a family. As I recall you were bought to be a brood mare for my father and when you spectacularly failed at your sole purpose I was brought into the family fold." A quick flick of her wrist the blond bint was sent flying out of the room with the sliding doors shutting and locking while the woman attempted to get up. She started casting silencing and privacy spells warding the room against anyone who could be listening.

You didn't need to be an empath to feel to anger rolling off the young witch in waves. Her father stared at her unaware of the power she wielded while Remus started to scold her, "Was it really necessary to fling her out of the room? Especially in front of our present company." She ignored his ranting and turned towards her father wearily glaring and almost growls, "You wanted to talk so talk."

Finally shaking off the shock he began to speak, "Yes, I wanted to talk. We have a great many things to discuss. Firstly, you shouldn't have spilled as much as you did. I don't like it but I understand that you had to set you and Sirius apart from the reputation that this family has. As this family's solicitor I will be taking over Sirius' case when it goes to trial and it will go to trial."

Now it was Sonny's turn to be shocked, "Why?" That was the only thing that she could articulate. "I am acting head of the family. When the time is right Sirius will take over as he was always meant to do. Aside from that it is time that I fight for what is right and learn from my daughter and nephew," he answered sighing at having revealed so much.

Sonny was again thrown but Remus quickly picked up the thread, "Sirius told us he was disowned are you reinstating him?" "That is the thing he was never legally disowned Orion never had me change the paperwork. His mother blasted him off the tapestry but that was more symbolic than legal and Orion never told her that he didn't come to me to make it legal," Phineas explained smiling at the look of shock on his daughter's face and the quickness of her boyfriend. One would never choose a werewolf for his child's life partner but he had become fond of him over the years. In fact when they asked him to bury Remus' registration papers he would have done it without getting anything in return just from look on Sonny's face he knew she loved the boy she looked at Remus the way Nora used to look at him.

"But why," Remus asked clearly not understanding why the man who had abused his friend and cursed him wouldn't disown him legally. Before Phineas could answer Sonny piped in, "To make sure that the Black family came out on the right side of the war; Two heirs one on the side of the light the other siding with Voldemort whichever side came out on top would become the next head of the family. My uncle was nothing if not politically savvy."

Phineas nodded, "At first but you weren't there that last year before he and Regulus died. He became disenchanted with You-Know-Who. They all did." Sonny had a sudden flash of a drawn and desperate Regulus turning away from her as she tried to get him spill what he knew in exchange for protection. She also felt that something was different at Grimmauld Place when her aunt summoned her newer wards that only accepted her because she had no intention of harming the residents of the house. "He added more wards to the house didn't he," she said just thinking out loud.

Phineas let a small smile grace his face, intelligence had been the thing that first drew him to Nora Cromwell and he was thankful every day that his daughter carried that same spark of genius that her mother did. "To keep out those that would harm them even blood relatives. I am guessing you felt them," he said. "By Orion hated Sirius. I saw what they did to him every summer. He didn't just have some big revelation that he was wrong," Remus said angrily. "My brother wasn't a warm man but he loved both his sons what happened to Sirius was all my sister-in-law's doing. The worst my brother ever did was a stinging hex on the bottom when they were truly ill behaved something I know both of you must have had happen once," Phineas defended his late brother. Sirius never said who hurt him they always assumed that it was both his parents no one witch or wizard could cause that much damage. "He loved him didn't he," Sonny said her voice cracking. Phineas nodded, "He loved them both very much. I think Sirius' rejection stung him more deeply then he would ever admit. That coupled with Regulus' death was what eventually killed him." "He never stopped her from hurting him. That's not love," Remus interjected. Sonny sighed, "No, that's the Black family."

After getting so spectacularly off track Phineas started to steer the conversation back to the original topic. "I am offering you my help are you willing to accept it," he posed to the couple. The couple stared at each for a few long tense moments as if in silent conversation. "We have Albus and one of the best Aurors in the department on our side and have gotten nowhere. I promised Sirius he would be out for Christmas and I will not be a liar. So yes we will accept your help," she answered all in one breath.

The two just stared at each other when finally Remus interrupted, "If that is all we should be going I doubt we will be welcome for tea after what happened earlier." He said the last part while glaring at Sonny. To which she softly muttered, "Bitch had it coming." They both headed to the floo to leave Remus going first. Sonny stepped in and was about call out the address when she remembered the doors. She popped out of the fireplace waved her wand and dropped the wards and unlocked the door, "See you soon, Father." She disappeared before he could even respond. Somehow the child always seemed to overwhelm him and get the upper hand.


	24. A Meeting at The Ministry

When they arrived back home Harry was still sleeping upstairs. Nora was sitting by the fireplace with a glass of white wine reading the latest on healing techniques. Remus caught Sonny as she tumbled out of the floo. Both a little dazed from the very informative and surreal meeting in Phineas' townhouse. They were pulled from their thoughts by Nora clearing her throat and lifting an eyebrow. Remus blanched at the look that was eerily reminiscent of the look Sonny would give them after they would come back to the common room after roaming the castle. The look that made one want to tell every single secret they possessed. Sonny promptly plopped down next to her mother on the plush couch and began explaining the nature of the impromptu meeting.

The next morning as the newly minted family sat gathered in the breakfast nook in the kitchen all still sleepy and clad in pajamas the floo roared to life and brought forth Phineas Black armed with good news. He was hustled in to the kitchen by his ex who had stumbled upon him while on her way to breakfast.

He was an odd sight in his wizarding suit with its high collar and odd robe like length. As odd as he looked is as out of place as he felt in the Cromwell Manor. He had only ever seen the living room floo on the rare occasion he had to come here and to be welcomed into the kitchen which both Nora and Sonny impressed upon him as being the heart and soul of the home showed how important Sirius was to all of them or maybe how sleepy Nora was he couldn't decide.

After being handed a cup of tea he explained that earlier that morning, the Cromwell-Lupin-Potter clan had gotten a late start, he received a letter from the DMLE regarding Sonny's claims. "They were basically begging me to rein you in or threaten to disown you," he added. Sonny laughed, "The DMLE is sent a letter to my dad like I was a child who was getting trolls in all her classes. Plus to think that you had any semblance of control over me means they are clueless about how our relationship works."

Remus was helping Harry attempt to eat scrambled eggs but they seemed to be all over Harry and Remus. He turned completely ignorant of this fact and added, "All they know is the front you put up for the society people and they believe him to be Lord Black. Hell we thought he was Lord Black until yesterday."

"You have eggs in your hair," Sonny told him. He quickly retorted back, "You have jam on your nose." While the couple when about righting themselves and Harry, Phineas began to explain the owl he had sent to Crouch. "I told him that it would be best if I heard his side of the story from him and I have a meeting with him today at noon. He has no idea I plan to bring you or that I will be defending Sirius when this goes to trial. I thought you would enjoy the look on his face," he told his daughter. She let loose a hearty laugh, "Are you suggesting that we confront the head of the DMLE and call him a hypocrite against the orders of the almighty Albus Dumbledore."

Melanie and Phoebe looked between father and daughter and answered with identical looks of glee, "I think that is exactly what he is suggesting." Phineas added, "Remus is welcome to join us in the meeting."

Sonny turned to Remus with a light in her eyes that reminded him of being back at Hogwarts when Sirius would get a particularly brilliant idea for a prank. It was the happiest she had looked in a long while. He had to be there and see what havoc the Blacks would wreak on the Ministry. He nodded shaking loose more pieces of scrambled eggs. "We need to leave at about 11:30 because we will not be flooing and I want to stop by my office to get a few things. I had the Headmaster send me all the evidence that the three of you had collected. I am greatly disappointed in him," Phineas told the pair as they quickly finished the last of their breakfast.

Unsure what to make of that comment they headed upstairs to change. Remus debated between wearing robes like Phineas or a muggle suit. Sonny told him to wear whatever made him comfortable she would be wearing a dress because robes never seem to look right on her diminutive 5'5" frame no matter how good the tailor. When he returned in the simple gray suit that he had bought for his mother's last birthday Sonny was putting the finishing touched to her hair and fixing her sapphire blue dress in the mirror.

The couple returned downstairs. They kissed Harry goodbye and left for Phineas' offices before heading over to the Ministry. While they looked through all the evidence it appeared that it was all the evidence that Sonny had collected and provided. Dumbledore hadn't tried to do anything other than dissuade her from advancing her plans to free Sirius. "Can I ask why you are disappointed in Dumbledore," Remus asked as Sonny looked through the evidence. "The Headmaster is also the Chief Warlock. He could have demanded a trial based on the evidence you gave him and gotten it. Instead he chose to make you do all the work. Why he is dragging his feet on this I have no clue," Phineas explained. Sonny had a feeling she knew why he was dragging his feet and if she was correct which she normally was then it would not bode well for them to seek help from the Headmaster.

Phineas gathered his paperwork and they stepped out of the office into the bright winter sun after extracting a promise for her to keep her composure. They used the visitors' entrance and headed to Crouch's office. They were let right through because they had an appointment. Sonny's opinion of Crouch was confirmed when his secretary, who was present this time, let the two unexpected visitors into the meeting without informing her boss allowing them to catch him off guard again.

Crouch's eyes widen a fraction when he noticed Sonny and Remus entered behind Phineas. "Mr. Black, I was unaware that your daughter would be attending this meeting," Crouch said shaking his hand after schooling his features. "We came to address the concerns you outlined in your letter. I learned long ago not to leave my daughter or her partner," Phineas explained gesturing to the unacknowledged young man, "out of anything pertaining to them. They are here because you left them no choice but to take the truth which you deny to the public. We also wish to address the fact that the next time you contact me it will be to give me my nephew's trial date as he is my client."

"Are you saying that you are defending the boy whose title you took and who was disowned by your dear brother all on the word of these two," Crouch exclaimed as the Blacks began to unravel him. "My nephew was never formally or legally disowned. As for the truth my daughter and Mr. Lupin are many things but liars are not one of them," Phineas said his words dipped in accusation and contempt.

"I was not trying to disparage their character they are acting on information feed to them by a very talented liar," Crouch said trying to regain his composure, "But I saw him when they brought him in laughing his head off. I know a dark wizard when I see one and Sirius Black is not only dark but he was working for You-Know-Who"

Sonny had been itching to say something but was interrupted by her father saying, "Whatever you think Barty, my client is innocent and not only will be having a trial but I will be visiting him in prison to assess how he is coping and being treated. I also want all the information on his arrest and the reason that he was not given a trial. " He then gestured to the couple to rise and leave.

As they turned to leave Sonny couldn't resist getting in one parting shot, "If you want to find a death eater maybe you should be looking for dark wizards a little closer to home."

As they exited and walked past all the aurors Crouch stuck his head out screaming, "What is that supposed to mean?"


	25. A Rescue in Retrospect Part 1

As they stepped into the elevator both Remus and her father turned to her, "What exactly did that mean," Remus asked. "Barty Crouch Jr. was there," she replied as she gazed solemnly into Remus' eyes willing him to understand her meaning and stop the questioning. "He was where," her father countered. Remus understanding what she meant said, "We will be discussing this in your father's office." They stood in the floo queue and waited to go to Phineas' office where she would explain everything to her father finally.

When they arrive back at the office, Phineas demanded an explanation of his daughter's cryptic words. Sonny ignored his demands and headed for the same bar he kept stocked with firewhiskey and brandy used for long nights of hopeless cases and celebrating victories. She poured herself a generous glass of firewhiskey and sat down to begin her explanation.

"Last August in fact the very last week of August I was kidnapped. Snatched from my front stoop by death eaters, Bella and her husband," she says staring at the firewhiskey in her hand. "They took me to some place I was knocked out. When I came to I was tied to a chair with them staring at me. Bella, Lucius, Snape and the Lestrange as well as Barty Crouch Jr. Then Voldemort showed up and Bella got a little too excited and Cruciated me until I passed out. When I woke up again I was in a cell of some kind and Cissy was tending to me," she explained in a distance voice that broke Remus' heart she never told anybody what happened except her healer.

"Crouch's son is a death eater," Remus said barely above a whisper. While Phineas asked, "Is Cissy marked?" Sonny shook her no. "When Bella was torturing me my glamour dropped for a second and Lucius saw that I was pregnant he sent for Cissy and volunteered her skills as a professional healer because they still needed me as I hadn't even been questioned by Voldemort yet," it after this that she finally took a sip of her whiskey. "You were pregnant why didn't you tell me," Phineas asked hurt to have such important information about his daughter kept from him.

Sonny was now lost in her thoughts and Remus answered, "She was about 5 months along we only told Sirius, Lily and James as well as Nora. I was away on missions often and she was meeting Sirius to go to her healer's appointment because of my lycanthropy she needed to be seen more often than other pregnant women. She was half way to the café that her and Sirius liked have breakfast at when she realized she had no wand on her. She never made it back to the apartment. Sirius went to look for when she was an hour late and all he found was her shoe."

Almost trance like Sonny added, "It was a little girl. Celeste Hope Cromwell-Lupin."

Remus was now cradling Sonny as she continued her narrative, "I was four months along when they kidnapped me but my little girl was a fighter. She held on for almost a month until one night my magic started to give even though Cissy had been sneaking me extra food. I remember so much blood and they were torturing a muggle for fun while Cissy was with me trying to stop the bleeding. The man kept screaming 'oh god' over and over I remember looking at Cissy and thinking where ever God is it isn't here. About a week later Snape returned I hadn't seen him since that first night now I realize he must have been teaching classes. I was ready to die. I wanted to die so I started feeding them false information while they were acting on a bit of it he helped me escape and made it look as if Rabstan LeStrange had failed to secure my cell. If it wasn't for him and Cissy I would be dead."

That simple statement threw Remus for a loop the very man he had almost killed saved the most important person in his life. Pushing aside all the information that had been given to him Phineas queried, "What about Crouch Jr.?" "There were others but I remember him because I couldn't figure out why he was there. Why had he joined up it wasn't about blood like it was for Bella and Lucius and it wasn't power like Snape so what the bloody hell could Voldemort have promised to Barty Crouch Jr.," Sonny retorted about the presence of the boy who had once given her sister Valentines and been Regan's study buddy had been a mystery for her to focus on during her time in captivity. The best conclusion she could come to was that it was all a big fuck you to the old man.

Sonny drained the last of her whiskey and said, "Can we leave now? I am tired."

_AN:I plan on make my future stories in this series be Harry/Draco so I wanted them to have one person who would be on their side so Narcissa was a healer until Draco was born and then she became a full time mother. Lucius, is a total ass, but he does love his son and value family would have summoned her after realizing they were torturing a pregnant woman. My head canon has Draco being an only child because The Malfoy's had trouble conciving and Narcissa had a few miscarriages before having Draco. The problems come from the lengths both the Blacks and the Malfoys took to ensure their lines stayed pure._


	26. A Rescue in Retrospect Part 2

After they arrived back at the Manor, Sonny headed upstairs claiming she was tired even though she had slept late into the morning.

This as Remus explained to her family was code for I am going to lay in bed and pretend that the world isn't a horrible place and maybe even nap. He hope there would be no nightmares or bouts of magic as Sonny had explained they had happened.

Some hours later Remus went to check on her as he was going to take a very cranky Harry up for his nap. She was in bed, on top of the covers her hair undone but still in her dress and heels. The covers were a mess from her tossing and turning. She curled up in the fetal position with her hands clenched in fists one across her abdomen and the other had her side.

Harry turned in his arms and sleepily reached out for Sonny. So Remus took the boy and sat him on the bed next to Sonny. He removed her shoes before lying down with Harry on his chest. As if sensing their presence Sonny uncurled and rolled over so she was now facing the two. The tension had seeped out of her body.

While the other two slept Remus, thought back to those dark days when Sonny was gone. He remembered coming home expecting to see Sonny and talk about the baby instead he found James yanking on his hair nearing pulling it out and Sirius pacing and growling under his breath. After they told him what happened he remembered his knees giving out and James walking him into the bedroom.

He remembered reading the journal that Lily had made her keep which was full of unsent letters to him about the baby. All her fears and hopes in the pages. He remembered the waiting and when she finally found her way back home. She landed in a messy heap in their living room and was asking for Sirius. That hurt and he would never deny it. Later she had explained that she had been too weak to Apparate and had to use blood magic to bring herself to Sirius.

She had slept for days but never cried. When he asked her how she felt she would reply that she felt nothing. He was only with her for a week before he was sent back out on the mission that he had returned from Halloween. He hated the old man for that. He had to leave her alone with Sirius as her only comfort. He knew his leaving had led to Sirius deciding his suspicions were true. His thoughts were interrupted by a sigh coming from his left.

"There are my boys," Sonny said as she stretched out a small smile on her face and any trace of her earlier melancholy gone. "I just needed to sleep it off I am fine. I know I had no nightmares because you never would have lain down with Harry if I had," she replied to his questioning look. The whispered conversation had stirred the sleeping child and he turned his head looking at Sonny with wide green eyes but not reaching for her. She moved closer to the two began playing with his jet black hair and rubbing his back. He had sensed her distress when they had first come home and had been inconsolable until he had tired himself out. She began humming "Baby Mine" and he was unsure if she was trying to sooth Harry or herself.

They lay like that for a long while until Nora yelled up that it was tea time after getting such a late start they all couldn't afford to sleep any more or Harry's schedule would be all off. They all went downstairs and they all avoided talking about what had upset Sonny and didn't discuss Sirius' case as any mention of her ex seemed to put Nora on edge recently.

The awkward peace was broken with the arrival of a special edition of the Daily Prophet announcing the disappearance of Alice and Frank Longbottom, who had just recently returned to auror duty. The article was sparse on details and Sonny had quickly abandoned her tea for parchment and a quill. Writing a polite enquiry to Lady Longbottom about the disappearance and if Neville was ok.

The owl returned with her reply. The couple had been on a routine patrol looking for any leftover death eaters. Neville was doing well but seemed to know something was off.

_AN:Baby Mine is from Dumbo and always makes me cry. So quick time line Sonny was kidnapped at the end of August and wasn't resuced by Snape until almost October. A week after her escape and discharge from the hospital Remus was sent away by Dumbledore and didn't return until the night James and Lily were killed. During the time he was gone Sirius stayed with her or she stayed in a safehouse with The Potters before they moved to Godric's Hollow. The fact that they didn't always live there is important to my story and you will see soon enough why._


	27. All the King's Men

It had been almost a week since the news of the Longbottoms disappearance. A week which saw Sonny and Harry flooing to Augusta Longbottom's to spend afternoons with Neville and allow his grandmother time to deal with all the logistics of having a toddler in the house once again. They played quite well together and it reminded Sonny of James and herself as children but it also left Sonny sad. This is what Alice and Lily dreamed of when they both found out they were pregnant that their children would play together and be happy. They would both often joke that Sonny and Remus would have to have two daughters so the boys could each marry one knowing that the Cromwells only had girls.

It was one such afternoon that the news came. Frank and Alice Longbottom had been found along with the kidnappers Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange as well as Barty Crouch Jr. had been found at the scene. They were taken into custody and Frank and Alice were rushed to St. Mungo's.

Sonny took both Neville and Harry to the Manor to stay with her mother, sent an owl to her father regarding the Crouch issue and then headed to the hospital to see what was going with Frank and Alice.

When she arrived at the hospital she was directed to Spell Damage. There she found about half the Auror department, Dumbledore and a very formidable Augusta looking ready to murder the Headmaster. When Augusta saw Sonny some of the hostility drained from her form hoping that the younger witch could get that old coot away from her. "How are the boys," she asked as Sonny approached. "Fine they are with my mum and Harry called her gamma. I think spending the last week with Neville and you may have helped him define her as such in his mind," Sonny answered watching Albus' micro expressions. He seemed annoyed that Harry should look at her family like they were his family yet another piece of the puzzle.

"Now what is happening," she asked getting back to reason that she had Neville to begin with. "They were tortured. The healers are working on them and they can heal the physical damage but we have no idea how they are psychologically," Augusta explained a slight tinge of grief coloring the normally very controlled woman's words. Sonny nodded and began talking mostly to herself, "Cruciated, minds' snapped." Augusta nodded to the ramblings and the two women who had become close in the past week both stared at the hospital room doors in silent reflection.

They were interrupted when the Headmaster decided he would no longer be ignored. He added a piece of information that Augusta hadn't told Sonny, "The best way to assess the damage is for someone to use Legilimency at least that is what the healer told us a few moments before you arrived." She knew his angle right away. He was going to suggest himself to perform the task hoping that Sonny would back him and convince the Longbottom matriarch to let him go diving in their minds. Of course, aside from seeing the state of their minds he would also be able to see whatever information the couple was able to retain. Information which he would without a doubt keep to himself until he felt it prudent to share with a small and select group of people and even then only bits and pieces.

"Albus, I won't have you messing about in my son and daughter-in-law's heads," Augusta said. "They are both damaged Albus for you to be able to enter their minds you need direct eye contact or some sort of previous connection to them neither of which you have or are likely to get," Sonny added. He scoffed and walked over to the Aurors now ignoring the two women.

It was well into the evening when everyone aside from Augusta and Sonny had left the floor. Albus had students to tend to and the Aurors had bad guys to chase. The healers were still bustling in and out of Frank and Alice's joint room. They were insistent that the best way to assess the damage was the use of Legilimency an art that no one in the ward had any concrete knowledge of. With everyone gone Augusta well aware of the gift the Cromwells have for the mind arts asked if Sonny would be willing to perform the search. Unlike Dumbledore she was a natural at it and she could do it with a simple touch. She agreed and they presented the plan to the healers.

Sonny was led into the joint room the couple shared. Both had been cleaned and were wearing standard hospital pajamas and both were awake. Yes, they were awake but they were not aware. She walked up to Alice or this husk person that had once been Alice and put her hand on the woman's forehead as if she were a mother checking to see if her child had a fever. She focused and quickly she saw all she needed to see. Shattered was the only word she could use to describe the chaos that she discovered in the depths of Alice's mind. She could the same word murmured over and over again different voices but always the same word, "Crucio!" She disengaged from Alice's mind as fast and gently as she could and then moved to Frank. With her hand on his forehead she found more of the same. After she came out of it she had to explain what happened and what it meant to Lady Longbottom and the two healers.

She began her explanation and quickly found that neither Augusta nor the healers understood what she was saying. They then explained that the Legilimency theory had been on the books for as long as any of them could remember but very few healers were trained in even the basics of the mind arts. Sighing again wishing her mother was here instead of on administrative leave. She took one of those kidney shaped bowls and transfigured it into a vase. She then smashed it on the floor. As they all jumped at the noise she pointed down at the broken pieces, "This is what their minds look like. It is like walking into a china shop that has been hit with a blasting curse. That being said with time the pieces can be put back together." She waved her wand and the pieces of vase fitted back together. She cast an _Aguamenti_ and filled the vase. Though repaired, water began to leak out of small cracks in the vase. "They can become aware their surroundings even feed themselves but they will never be fully cognizant again," she explained sadly as the water trickled out of barely visible cracks. "Once something is so utterly broken it can never be truly repaired," Augusta said softly.

_AN:The title is taken from the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty. After picturing the scene with all the Aurors those words were just stuck in my head. Also Dumbledore isn't going to be full on evil (even though I love those fics) more like they realize that he doesn't have Harry's best interests at heart._


	28. It's Alright Now

After the trials of the Lestranges and Crouch the younger, Sonny and her father began a small smear campaign against the Minister and Crouch. With public support in their favor it was only a matter of time before Bagnold had to give Sirius a trial.

The notice of the trial arrived just three days after the Lestrange trial. They were given a trial date and separate earlier date for which they could visit Sirius and have him aid in his own defense. It was the day of the full moon so it was only Phineas and Sonny who took the long journey to Azkaban. After they left their wands with a guard they were taken to a small room with a table and were left to wait.

Soon Sirius was brought into the room. The guard (barely above a squib and on a powertrip) all but shoved him into it and sneered at them clearly not believing in Sirius' innocence. The paper work they were given to read over showed that Sirius had been showing signing of losing his sanity.

The man before her wasn't the man that she had seen just before Halloween or even during her projection. His face was wane and it made his sharp features even more prominent. He had lost at least a stone since his imprisonment. His eyes were both haunted and wild it reminded her of a cornered Moony during the full moon. His hair was a filthy tangled mess and she knew that the only way to tame it would be to cut it. He reeked of dirt, urine and feces.

Despite all that Sonny pulled him into a tight hug. She wondered if he lost more weight then she originally thought as she could feel the knots of his spine through his prison robes. The guard yelled, "NO TOUCHING THE PRISONERS!" To which Sonny replied, "Piss. Off."

After breaking the hug Sirius' eyes looked more focused as he softly whispered, "You're real. Prove you're real." So Sonny just as softly began to sing, "I was born in a cross-fire hurricane/And I howled at my ma in the driving rain,/ But it's all right now, in fact, it's a gas!/But it's all right." His shoulders sagged in relief as he replied, "I was raised by a toothless, bearded hag,/ I was schooled with a strap right across my back,/But it's all right now, in fact, it's a gas!"

The guard looked like they were mad as Phineas wandlessly raised a privacy charm which was the only charm he could preform that way as it was important for his legal dealings.

Phineas looked between the two and silently asking what was happening. "It is Sirius' song he would sing it before Quidditch matches. Let's face it isn't Walburga a hag," Sonny explained. With his question answered and Sirius more focused Phineas pulled out all the documents he complied about Sirius' case including sworn statements from Moody, Sonny and several other people who interacted with Sirius and believed him incapable of hurting any of the Potters.

"Now, Sirius you are being charged with being a member of a terrorist organization, treason, three counts of conspiracy to commit murder, one count of murder and 12 counts of manslaughter," his uncle began to explain the charges, "Crouch wanted to try you for 13 counts of murder figuring if you were a member of You-Know-Who's army you would want to take out as many muggles as you could. But the Head Auror was able to dissuade him after explaining your mental state at the time."

He nodded his understanding he had been so focused on Peter that he hadn't even realized that their shouting in the early morning hours had awoken the muggles in the neighborhood. It wasn't until he was dragged away, manically laughing at the fact that poor pathetic Peter was able to fool them all, that he noticed the carnage that Peter had caused in his escape.

"We can refute most of the charges. You bare no dark mark which proves you had no dealings with You-Know-Who and also squashes the treason charges. As for conspiracy we have Sonny's memories and your own testimony to help prove that to be completely false. We have Lily's amendment to the will as well which also gives credence to your claim of Pettigrew escaping as she included pictures of him in his animagus form. Now we are consenting to you being questioned under Veritaserum, in fact, I demanded it. So if there is anything other than you being an illegal animagus tell me now," Phineas said.

Then in the cold, dank and unforgiving walls of Azkaban Sirius Orion Black confessed his greatest shame, "Before I left home my 'mother' put me under the imperious curse, she forced me to do things but I have no clear recollection just moments but what I do remember is horrifying. Since I have been here I have been remembering more."

Sonny remembered the Sirius that showed up to the Potters that summer he must have been punished once he threw the curse off. They could easily check for spell damage but hopefully it would never come out.

"We can hopefully avoid having it come up in questioning. I have one more piece of information to depart. Your father in his infinite wisdom failed to file the paperwork to legally disown you. You became Lord Black upon his death since Regulus predeceased you both. Currently I have been acting in my role as legal and financial adviser but your mother is under the impression that the title passed to me since women can't inherit. I haven't told her otherwise but never said that I was Lord Black," his uncle expounded.

"Why," he croaked out in reply completely confused about his father's action. While his father had never been as cruel as his mother he didn't exactly stop her for being the horrible human she was.

Phineas sighed and then explained the very same thing he had explained to Sonny and Remus when he joined their campaign. The young man deflated after hearing about all his father went through while he had the title and the power outside of the house Orion Black was as much a prisoner in ancestral Black family house as his sons.

With all the matters they had come to discuss discussed Phineas began pack up his paperwork and notes. Sonny took both of Sirius' hands ion hers and told him, "The trial is on the 22nd of December that is 11 days from now okay. I want you remember in 11 days you will be proven innocent and then we will proceed to sue the Ministry for wrongful imprisonment and defamation."

Phineas dropped the privacy charm as he gathered up his things.

With another hug and a shouted 'Piss Off' Sonny and Phineas departed from the prison.

That night as the full moon hung high in the sky over a manor house in Essex a wolf-man howled trapped in a locked and warded cellar. It howled for its lost pack.

In the middle of North Sea the same full moon shone through a sliver in a cell wall down on a slightly mad prisoner as he kept repeating, "It's alright now!"

For indeed it would soon be more than alright for both the wolf-man and his mad friend.

_AN: Sirius' Song is Jumpin' Jack Flash by The Rolling Stones. Next we have Sirius' trial. Also one stone is equal to 14 lbs._


	29. The Trial of the Decade Pt 1

Over the course of the next eleven days Phineas Black spent more time with his nephew then he had in boys previous 21 years on this earth. He brought healers to check him over for spell damage specifically what his sister-in-law had done apparently he had told Dorea about what happened previous to escaping his home and she had it put in his medical charts which was helpful.

Then the day finally came December 22, 1981. It was decided that it would be a full Wizengamot trial not a tribunal like the other Death Eater trials.

The trial was public and the courtroom was packed as they all gathered to see and sit in judgment of the son of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black. Years of ruthless pretension was about to fall upon the least deserving of the family and all they could do was bare it with a head held high and a screw you attitude. All the daughters of the Black family were present Narcissa Malfoy under a glamour, Andromeda Tonks looking as if she would rather be any place else yet her curiosity getting the better of her and Sonny Cromwell sitting proud as day in the witness booth.

It was decided that Remus would take the stand first and testify to the events of the night James and Lily died explaining how they found the bodies and Harry and the confrontation in Dumbledore's office. This would lead into Sonny's testimony and the viewing of the memory that she had shown that night. Sirius would explain what happened on the street and memory would be viewed. They also intended to question the first Oblivator on the scene a C. Fudge and Dumbledore.

Airing all of the things that Dumbledore and Crouch did wrong was about making sure they paid for their mistakes. Plus neither Sonny nor her father could be accused of being very fond of the old Headmaster this was the opening gambit in the game they were going to play with the old man. See how he reacted to having the flaws in his judgment and his lack of action to correct it aired for the entire world to see.

The pompous looking man running the trial called order and Phineas began his opening statement.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I stand before you today to prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt that Sirius Orion Black is an innocent man. He did not commit the crimes he is accused of. I will provide not only memories from others as well as Veritaserum testimony of my client about the events of the early morning hours of the 1st of November. We are here to make sure that a great miscarriage of justice is corrected and never happens again," he concluded the statement by looking around but paying specific attention to Crouch, Dumbledore and the Minister all of whom were only spectators today.

"The defense wishes to call Remus John Lupin to the stand," Phineas called as Remus took the stand and was administer a truth spell that would keep him from omitting anything for him testimony but not as violent or stripping as a potion.

"Can you describe the events of the late night/early morning hours of October 31st and November 1st," Phineas asked.

"That day I was on mission for the Order of The Phoenix, a group of civilians led by Chief Warlock Dumbledore dedicated to fighting the Dark Lord known as Voldemort. We were to watch muggle areas to ensure that Death Eaters didn't attack during the festivities. I returned home sometime after midnight and was awoken maybe an hour or so later by my girlfriend," Remus stated before he was interrupted by Phineas.

"Your girlfriend?" the lawyer queried.

"Sonia Cromwell-Black," Remus answered and then continued, "She was mumbling about 'him' being in Godric's Hollow and frantically dressing. It was then that I realized she was talking about Voldemort and the Potters. We made hast and got to the Potter Cottage to find it in ruins and the bodies on the front lawn."

"Did you encounter my client when you arrived at the Potter Cottage?" the lawyer asked.

"No, according to Rubeus Hagrid we had just missed him. They argued over taking Harry. In the end Hagrid had convinced Sirius to give Harry to him to take to the Headmaster. We eventually took Harry to Hogwarts ourselves and that is how we found out about Sirius' arrest and I was told the truth about Sirius' involvement in the Potters' murders," Remus finished.

"My client says and has said since his arrest that he was not the one entrusted with the knowledge of the Potters' location is that the truth you learned that morning?" Phineas asked while murmurs broke out amongst the crowd.

"Yes, Sonia showed me and the Headmaster a memory of a conversation she had with Lily Potter shortly before they settled into Godric's Hollow." Remus answered.

"At this time we have no more questions for this witness," Phineas stated clearly to the sea of plum robed fools.

The acting Chief Warlock told Remus to return to the witness booth.

"The defense wishes to call Sonia Artemis Cromwell-Black to the stand. Miss Cromwell-Black will also be providing a memory to the gallery," Phineas called as

*Sonny's Memory from ch. 3 plays*

"Miss Cromwell-Black can you explain what we just witnessed?" her father asked.

"Yes, a few weeks after I escaped my captors I was put on inactive duty for the Order of The Phoenix, Lily and I were working triage waiting for the injured to return for treatment. After Potter Abbey was destroyed in the raid that killed James' parents they were looking through the family properties but when the threat on their lives was revealed they moved for safe house to safe house. When they finally decided they couldn't live on the run much more they discovered the old family propriety in Godric's Hollow. Yet they needed something stronger than just family wards so Dumbledore suggested they use the Fildelius Charm which required a Secret Keeper. The oblivious choice was Sirius everyone knew how close they were so Lily approached me with the idea that Sirius and James had come up with to trick them with Sirius acting as bait while the real Secret Keeper was able to walk around free from attack. I was too weak yet to be able to be the Secret Keeper and my magic was too unstable to even consider taking on the charm. I wouldn't put their safety in jeopardy like that," she explained.

"I must ask you how you knew the Potters were in danger," her father asked taking a calculated risk. The entirety of the Wizarding World knowing one of her gifts was small price to see justice done.

"I am an empath. I feel other's emotions and can even channel stronger emotions like fear and pain. Often I have to be in close proximity to the person but with certain people that I have spent a great deal of time around or am related to I can feel them across great distances. I felt the connection I had to James sever upon his death and Lily's fear combined I knew what must have happened," she answered honestly and again the crowd murmured this time at the very rare power.

"What happened when you took young Mr. Potter for Mr. Hagrid?" her father asked.

"I used my connection to him as his godmother to soothe him. Something Hagrid had trouble doing after he took him from Sirius. We took him to the Headmaster to keep our promise to Hagrid and I knew they would be hunting Sirius believing him to be the traitor," she answered knowing they were getting to the heart of the problem.

"When did you show this memory to the Headmaster and what did he do afterwards," Phineas asked.

"After he told us that Sirius had been arrested, he believed he made a grave mistake and offered to help us free Sirius. After cleaning up and taking Harry someplace safe we met with the head of the DMLE, Mr. Crouch. He refused to look at the evidence and treated us as if we were something rotten he had stepped in. It was after lack of progress from the Headmaster that I turned to the media and you," she told the room looking directly at Crouch as she did so.

"I have no more questions for this witness. I ask that she step down. We would like to Albus Dumbledore to the stand," her father stated.

The acting Chief called a halt to the trial for lunch and then Dumbledore would take the stand. While everyone focused on the young woman leaving the witness chair nobody noticed the worried that overtook normally twinkling blue eyes.

_AN:I ended it with a cliffy... This story will focus on how having a proper family changes both Harry, Sirius and Remus so I feel the need to include all the Black family members because who doesn't love their special brand of twisted dysfunction. Also because Sonny had her dad bury Remus' werewolf status the population at large doesn't know what he is but he still avoids the government as whole for fear of being found out._


	30. The Trial of the Decade Pt2

In her infinite wisdom Sonny spent time arranging for Sirius to have a private room at St. Mungo's under her mother's care and the best mind healers around for after Sirius was freed. Remus felt this was putting the horse before the cart but after finally seeing the state of his once lively friend he knew it needed to be done. Sirius looked like Remus felt following a full moon alone.

They all ate their small meals in relative silence as Phineas prepped the questions he would be asking in the second half of the trial neither Black discussed the presence of Andi. They had bigger fish to fry. They also didn't discuss the fact that Phineas seemed to be sleeping in his office or the bags under Sonny's eyes.

As the trial reconvened it became clear that everybody wanted to what the great Albus Dumbledore would say. The truth spell was cast on the Headmaster and then the questioning began.

"Mr. Dumbledore, it was you who suggested that the Potters use the Fildelius Charm is that correct?" Phineas asked diving straight in and ignoring all of Dumbledore's titles.

"Yes, I even offered to be their Secret Keeper. Instead James wanted to use Sirius," the old man said with a sigh as if it had been James' decision not accept his help that cost the young couple their lives.

"How did you know that the Potters were dead when it seemed that your agent, Hagrid, arrived on the scene almost as quickly as Miss Cromwell-Black and Messers Lupin and Black," the lawyer asked, it was a question that both Remus and Sonny had thought about when the dust had settled and they were going over strategy.

"I found myself able to speak of the Potters location aloud when that happened I knew that the charm had been broken and the young couple was dead. When I arrived at my office after Sirius was arrested I found Sonia and Remus with little Harry and found that they had relived Hagrid of his duties," the Headmaster answered the question plus.

"When you arrived at your office where had you just come from and why was the Keeper of the Keys sent to retrieve young Mr. Potter instead of a Professor or better an auror?" Phineas queried.

"I sent Hargid because he was with me at the time and I had to get the Ministry. I was with the aurors when they brought Sirius in. After the decision was made to send him to Azkaban, I returned to my office where Miss Cromwell-Black showed me the memory that we watched earlier today. After we had Harry examined by Hogwarts medi-witch we decided to reconvene at the Ministry in an attempt to have Sirius freed." Dumbledore answered feeling smug.

"What part did you play in deciding that my client should not have a trial," the lawyer asked now digging in.

"I confirmed the theory that Mr. Black was the Secret Keeper and as such he should be arrested. I also agreed that he should be imprisoned without a trial for what I then believed to be his crime. The evidence at the time was too great to suggest anything other than guilt," the old man explained no trace of regret on the high handed sentence he gave.

"So you a great believer in second chances and reform gave a man a life sentence based on circumstantial evidence. Is that correct?" Phineas was now going in for the kill especially since it was a well known fact that Albus had kept the Snape whelp from even having to see the inside of a courtroom.

"Yes," was the only thing the old wizard managed to say before he could justify his actions Phineas cut in with his final question, "What did you do to help my client get a trial after the initial meeting with DMLE Head Crouch?"

The man opened his mouth to speak and flinch as he attempted to lie and then he deflated and spoke the truth, "I did nothing other meet with Miss Cromwell-Black and Mr. Lupin, I also managed to convince Auror Moody who worked with Mr. Black to stand down in his attempts to help. It was against my expressed advice that Miss. Cromwell-Black went to the media with her story."

"Even though you as Chief Warlock of this body could have gotten him a trial without having to deal with Mr. Crouch or even the Minister," Phineas accused.

All the old man could do was bob his head in conformation of the truth.

With all the pretension that a man of his station was afforded Phineas Black exclaimed, "I have no more use for this witness." And with that Albus Dumbledore was dismissed from the court.

Next they called an oblivator by the name of Fudge. He had been on the scene before the aurors had arrived and it was he who had taken the muggle witness statements instead of the aurors. Under Phineas' quick and direct questions he explained that he had oblivated the muggle witnesses before the aurors could speak to them and that all the accounts that were so damning to Albus and Crouch were only what little bit he remembered them saying in the chaos and that when he went to Crouch with this he was ignored. He was dismissed and thus the fall of Bartermius Crouch was complete and Albus Dumbledore was on shaky ground.

"Finally I would like to my client Sirius Orion Black to take the stand," Phineas' voice boomed over the murmurs and shouts as people watched the depleted young man be led to the stand still shackled. An auror administered three drops of Veritaserum and the crowd watched as Sirius' face went blank.

After the standard test questions Phineas asked, "Mr. Black can you walk us through the events of Halloween night?"

"Yes," was the toneless response of the vacant eyed man, "I had noticed a lack of my usual tail of Death Eaters and went to check on Peter to ensure that he was still safe. I went to his flat and found it empty with no sign of forced entry yet it had the lingering heaviness of foul magic having been preformed there recently."

"What did you do once you realized that Mr. Pettigrew was gone and the Potters were in danger," Phineas asked as the Veritaserum required that person under the influence be directly questioned.

"I grabbed my motorcycle and headed to Godric's Hollow. I found the house in ruins. James was just inside the door way, dead," was exclaimed with most emotion that anyone under the potion could use, "His eyes were open. I tried shaking him to wake him up. He was always so hard to wake up in the mornings."

"What did you do after you found Mr. Potter," was the next question.

"I dragged him out of the wreckage and went looking for Lily and Harry. I found Lily beside the cot. I cast an ennervate hoping to get her to wake up. I gave up when I heard crying coming from the cot. It was Harry, he had soot on his face and a cut on his head. I picked him up and calmed him down. I cleaned his cut and healed it."

"What happened after you found Mrs. Potter and little Harry," Phineas asked guiding the next part of the story.

"Levitated Lily down to James and found Hagrid out front, he tried to console me but just kept going on about taking Harry to Dumbledore. Finally I relented and handed Harry over to him along with the keys to my bike to allow him to get Harry away safely," the young prisoner said.

"What did you do then?" he asked

"I left and headed to find Peter," the dead voice replied.

"I would like to now enter into evidence Mr. Black's memory of the encounter between himself and Peter Pettigrew," Phineas said his voice booming in the now nearly silent chamber.

_*Sirius' Memory*_

_Sirius handed Harry over to Hagrid and steeled himself to find the rat._

_The child's cries were the last thing he heard as he apparated away. _

_The memory span as he arrived in what appeared to be Peter's flat. He started looking for clues into his location and finally decided to use an auror locating spell. He grabbed Peter's toothbrush and used it to focus the spell and then he had a general location._

_The memory span again as he arrived on a muggle street with faint traces of magic. He cursed a blue streak for having just missed Pettigrew and cast the tracking spell again. _

_As the memory span once more Sirius landed with a thud and this time he was face to face with the traitorous rat._

_"Peter!" he shouted and aimed a stunner over the man's shoulder to get his attention._

_The rat turned around and they began to duel Peter using loud hexes that missed Sirius by miles and Sirius using defensive charms. The racket from the missed hexes awoke the slumbering members of the muggle neighborhood. _

_"Sirius, James and Lily how could you," Peter repeated over and over. _

_With his continued shouts the people left their homes to investigate._

_A blasting curse was shot from Pettigrew's wand and the street exploded. The only thing that saved Sirius was a well timed Protego._

_In the madness the traitor escaped and Sirius stood surveying the damage around him and he began to laugh at the fact that poor, simple, simpering Peter managed to hide what he was and frame him for his crime. _

_Then the truth hit him. It was his idea to use Peter to not wait on Dumbledore's answer to Lily's questions. He was the reason they were dead. _

_"I killed them," the thought repeated in his head and then the words slipped from his lips. Just in time for aurors to drag him away._

_*End Memory*_

"I would now like to submit my client's wand into evidence so that Prior Incantatem can be preformed," Phineas added.

Amelia Bones was the auror tasked with the job she had a well known dislike of Sirius and was incorruptible unlike others in Crouch's régime. She stood and cast the spell. Sirius' wand began spit out the last ten spells it had cast. The shield, three stunners, two knockback jinxes, the two tracking spells, one levitation charm and an infant healing spell were shown for all the court to see.

Sirius was lead back to his seat. The court was then given copies of the Potters' will including Lily's amendment. After that Phineas never even had to make his closing arguments as Sirius was declared innocent of all charges.

Sirius was led into a side chamber where he was greeted by Sonny, Remus and his uncle. "We will be taking you to St. Mungo's so you can be healed both physically and mentally from prison," Remus said as he wrapped his arms around his far too thin friend.

While he wanted to huff and say that he didn't need a mind healer, he was too weak to disagree. Sonny and Remus took him out a nearby floo while Phineas went to deal with the media.

In the atrium of the Ministry, Phineas Black preformed one of his final public acts as the acting head of the House of Black. He gave a statement to the press.

"I will answer questions shortly but first I would like to ask that you give me and my family time to deal with the hideous betrayal by not only a close friend but also our government. My nephew is going to the hospital and will remain there until such time that his healers feel he is ready to return home. We are waiting until he is healthier to decide whether or not to file a claim against the Ministry, Barty Crouch or Albus Dumbledore. At that time my nephew will also decide if he wishes to continue his career as an auror. Again I will only be answering questions today after this please leave my family time to heal," Phineas said his voice strong and proud, "Now questions?"

Since he had answered all the questions in his statement very few reporters raised their hands except for Rita Skeeter. "Where is Harry Potter," she asked with little regard for decorum.

"Young Mr. Potter is in the care of relatives. That is all I am at liberty to say as I am not counsel for the Potter family. Any other questions if not I need to check on my nephew," and with that said he left the Ministry to do just that.


	31. A Deal with Dumbledore

At the hospital Nora was waiting to do the paperwork on Sirius and get him into his private room. They went over the full diagnostic spell again and discovered that in the time since his trial was announced he hadn't been fed at all and before that he hadn't been eating because the food had been tampered with hence the drastic change in his weight and build. Sirius was sitting on the bed with the spell floating over his head looking at his lap while Sonny was taking deep calming breaths as Remus tried to take her wand from her robes hoping she wouldn't decide to go on a hexing spree.

Since he hadn't been eating any time he tried to ingest something it just came right back up meaning he would be in the hospital until he could hold down potions and then solid foods. The mind healer felt that he would need intensive treatment to deal with his captivity, grief, guilt and the lingering issues from childhood as well as and most likely he would need to continue to see her following his release.

Then it was calming Sirius enough so they could leave. With a number of promises to see him every day and bring Harry when he was little bit better they managed to leave. Yet the couple was left with that same shameful guilty feeling they got every time they had to leave Harry with the aunts or Nora.

Remus headed back to the manor while Sonny headed for a meeting with her father to discuss the new information, their filing suits against the Ministry, Albus and Crouch and get Sirius' personal effects. She wanted Crouch and the Ministry by the short hairs but she knew she couldn't go to war with Albus. He was too valuable and powerful she would have to come to an uneasy truce with the old man for the sake, of well, the entire wizarding world. She snorted and heard her aunt Walburga's voice in her head, 'you think for too much of your self little girl'.

When she arrived at her father's office he was not alone but in the company of the very wizard who had been previously occupying her thoughts.

"Father, Sirius has been admitted and he will be there awhile. Apparently once it became clear that 'the death eater scum' might get off they stopped feeding him so he can't even keep a potion down. Mum has the healers spelling it into him. He will also have a long road ahead of him with the mind healer but that is an issue that would be ongoing for any member of this family," she said completely ignoring Dumbledore.

The old man was sitting in the chair she had had her break down in just weeks before clutching the special edition of the _Daily Prophet_ that announced Sirius' innocence and his own misdeeds. He gasped at the mistreatment the young man had suffered. The treatment he had condemned him to.

"Albus is worried about Sirius and he also came to see if I had decided what I wanted to do about filing suit against him," her father answered nodding towards the man in the chair, "Do you wish to explain it to him?"

"Voldemort is still out there somewhere. That means that the wizarding world needs you as such we will not be seeking to have you removed from any of your posts. Though I am sure the ICW will want to do a full investigation but for a man who claims to not want power you certainly wield plenty of it so even if you lose that position it will be no great loss. You appear repentant and that is more than I can say for Crouch and even the Ministry. So here is the deal we don't strip you of those positions and you stay out of Harry's life until the time he reaches Hogwarts and then you will only be involved as his headmaster until such time that Voldemort rises again in which case we will fight side by side. I am no fool I found the prophecy and I know that we will need your help until then we call the shots. You will also go along with the lie that Harry is with his muggle aunt and will help me place protections on her home to keep her family safe. This war has cost her enough and I will not put an innocent muggle in danger just to protect wizards that makes us no better than Voldemort and his ilk. Publicly you will apologize and occasional side with us during Wizengamot votes. Support us and we will support you within reason especially with the school governors," her monologue complete she looked to the old wizard for an answer.

He looked up and asked, "Where did you find the prophecy and if you are telling everybody he is with Lily's sister why not just let him live with her after all you have so much on your plate that a young child is the last thing you need right now."

"Oh Albus, you didn't think you were the only one recruiting did you," she said sarcastically, "You are in no position to make demands or veiled insinuations of me being unfit. I will not leave him with Petunia because he needs to know his roots and how to control his magic and she will never be able to help him because she has turned her jealousy of Lily into a deep hatred of magic so no he will not be staying with her ever. Next if you don't agree to my very generous conditions I will talk to my favorite reporter and tell her my theory on why you really didn't want Sirius to have a trial. In fact I think your little scheme for Harry goes further back including delaying Severus from rescuing me. I wonder what they will think knowing you had a hand in not only the illegal detainment of a Lord of an Ancient and Noble House but also the death of an heir and the kidnapping and torture of another."

"Now do we have a deal," Phineas asked.

Dumbledore signed and said in the manner of a disappointed grandfather, "Yes we have a deal."

He swore a wizards' oath to Sonny agreeing to her terms and said that he would call on them after the holidays to see how Sirius was doing.

When Albus left Sonny was filled with a sense of triumph and contentment. No one had ever gotten one over on Dumbledore like that and now she could raise Harry in a way that left him prepared for the future he faced and focus on keeping her family safe.

While Dumbledore was in his office trying to figure out ways around the oath he just took and Sonny was reveling in her family being safe and finally being in place where they could begin to heal a very familiar rat was sitting in the pocket of a young red-head listening to the young man's parents argue over the release of the apparently innocent Sirius Black.

_AN:Since it was unknown who the other person in the prophecy was about Sonny was able to listen to it knowing that either Harry or Neville may be the other person. Yes she is an unspeakable my rules for unspeakables is that while they are ministry funded the ministry has little say in what they do, plausible deniability and all that jazz. Also Sonny, Remus and Sirius will not be raising Harry to be a soldier but he will be aware of all the things that Dumbledore kept from him. Also the Black family drama will come into play with Phineas, Andromeda and the rest of the family._


	32. Breaking Down

This chapter contains mentions of mental illness, sexuality and minor bits of violence.

* * *

><p>It had been almost seven months since Sirius' release from Azkaban. It had been almost four months since he had been released from St. Mungo's.<p>

In that time both Sonny and Remus settled into their post-war lives. Remus had made it his mission to restore the Potter fortune for Harry. Years of investing in only magical companies owed by light families had destroyed the liquid assets of the Potters when the war came and most of these families were decimated. The donations to the Order also put a nice dent in the Potter funds. Remus began investing in muggle technology and pharmaceutical companies to diversify the Potter portfolio. It was safe to say he was becoming a favorite among the goblins as they made 5% on whatever the Potter accounts brought in and the accounts hadn't been making money for years.

Sonny altered her work semi-retiring from the Department of Mysteries to focus solely on research and broadening her muggle education after having delayed her admission to Cambridge (twice). This helped her to spend more time with Harry and keep an eye on Sirius.

Sirius was the only one not moving on if anything since his release from the hospital he had been backsliding emotionally. It became an unspoken rule in the manor that he was never to be left alone with Harry. His moods were too unstable and he was often drunk before noon. To be completely honest he was often drunk before mid-morning. It was a well known fact that the oldest child of each of the Blacks suffered from some form of mental illness. Sonny's Aunt Lucretia was a sweet woman but often suffered from crippling depression, Aunt Walburga has a personality disorder, her grandfather began to suffer from agoraphobia in his old age and Bellatrix is an absolute psychopath. Sirius was clearly manic depressive he would cycle through highs and lows these moods would leave him prone to impulsive behaviors, poor decision making and rages.

The booze only made the highs disappear leaving them with the lowest of lows. It was driving the young empath mad. He was her own personal dementor. His grief was overwhelming in its vastness. He grieved for James the way one would grieve a spouse or lover. Sonny had always wondered if Sirius, even if he was unaware of it, cared for James in a way much deeper then friendship or brotherhood. After all Uncle Orion had been gay and forced to marry his asexual cousin to produce an heir and hide his "shameful" nature.

It had been a long couple of months when the entire situation came to a head on a steamy June night when Sirius' lingering depression became too much for Sonny. Remus had been visiting his father as he did almost every Sunday occasionally Sonny would go with him but Harry had been fussy and no one else was home so she stayed behind.

On her way downstairs after she finally got Harry to sleep she passed by Sirius' room which the house had placed a safe distance from her room and the nursery but close to her mother in case his health took a turn. She heard banging and went to investigate because if he woke Harry she would make a month in Azkaban feel like a day at the beach.

When she entered his room it was a mess. He was looking for something and in his drunken state forgot he could just summon it. When he finally did summon the bottle of cheap muggle whiskey she snatched it out of the air with reflexes honed from years of being forced to play Quidditch with James.

When the bottle failed to make its way to his waiting and shaking hand was when he finally realized that he was not alone.

"Really another bottle! Drinking yourself into oblivion isn't going to bring James back or undo any of the choices you made," she shouted while gesturing to the other glass bottles that littered almost every flat surface in the room.

At the mere mention of James and the withheld liquor he charged at her hoping to get the bottle back. She dodged as he lunged expecting him to go for the booze.

However the shriek-like war cry he gave before attacking again caught her off guard and they began to struggle for the bottle. Sirius clipped her jaw as he went for the bottle she retaliated by busting the bottle over his head. Blood was pouring from his temple and mixing with whiskey as the glass shattered cutting them both. He grabbed her by the throat and pinned her to the wall. She kneed him in the balls. When he staggered back she reached for her wand and put him in a body bind.

She sunk to the floor and pulled her knees to her chest wand gripped tightly in her shaking left hand as blood and whiskey ran down her arm.

This was how Remus found them. She was unsure whether it had been minutes or hours but it was long enough for bruises to begin to surface as the ones forming on her neck had clearly caught Remus' eye. He helped her towards their room and sat her down, with no resistance, in the in-suite bath and began to clean the cut.

He removed the glass and drying blood and luckily the whiskey acted as a disinfectant.

She was almost catatonic the way she had been in the hospital following her kidnapping. This worried Remus deeply as he helped her change into her night clothes and again she offered little resistance. He wanted to heal the bruises but was afraid of how she would react to someone pointing a wand at her and the bruise balm was all the way in the chamber where he had his monthly transformations.

He guided her to the bed and cast a quick sleeping charm once she seemed comfortable.

He quickly checked on Harry still a little shocked that the child had slept through what appeared to be a knock down drag out fight. He then headed to Sirius' room. The brief walk from the end of the hall and down one flight found the anger that the werewolf had been suppressing reaching new heights.

Sirius was exactly where he left him stiff as board on floor by his night stand. Had Remus been thinking clearly he would have realized what a pathetic sight his friend made. Bloodshot wild eyes moving back and forth, his body still thin for his time in jail and complexion sallow from the drinking the great Sirius Black was indeed pathetic in that moment.

Remus ended Sonny's spell and then cast a sobering charm on the man before roughly pulling into a chair before sitting down on the bed.

"Care to explain what happened," he asked in a cold and clipped tone that Sirius hadn't heard since their sixth year following his 'prank' on Snape.

Sirius searched his now clear mind and remembered that all he wanted was his whiskey and some undisturbed sleep. The healers refused to give him more dreamless sleep potions and the Cromwells were inclined to agree. Sonny then refused to give him the bottle and start talking about James.

"I just wanted to sleep. She wouldn't give me the bottle and then she brought up James," he said softly hoping to abate the other man's anger but failing miserably.

"She started it. That is the answer as to why I came home and found my girlfriend bloodied, bruised and unresponsive. Really that is the answer your going with," Remus said his voice now overly light and a small smile on his face.

See many people would say that Remus Lupin was most dangerous when he was in wolf form but Sirius knew better Remus was at his most dangerous when he used that forced airy tone and smiled that little smile.

"She broke a bottle over my head and kicked me in the bollocks," he whispered only making the whole thing worse.

Remus was now clearly frustrated and the wards that alert him if Harry was distressed were going off. He had ignored them for a few minutes knowing Harry needed to know how to comfort himself but the alarms had been going too long so he made to leave. He stopped and turned to his old friend and said, "Get some sleep and maybe in the morning you won't find all your shite in bags on the lawn."

Thankfully Harry wasn't having a nightmare but was awake and crying as he was in the final stages of teething. He hummed a few bars of the song Sonny liked to sing to him and Harry fell back asleep.

Remus headed to his and Sonny's room, he found her still asleep, and fell into a troubled sleep of his own.

_AN: I picture Walburga to be the kind of person that refused to touch other people never mind actually have sex. It would also play to her puritanical personality disorder and explain Sirius' and Regulus' relationship with Kreacher he was the only person in the house they had physical contact with. I have nothing against gay people but feel that in wizarding world being gay would be a bad thing with purebloods because they can't have children and they are all about blood this explains why two first cousins were forced to marry. I also think that other stereotypes and propaganda maybe why Orion maintained a distance from his sons. Also while most manic depressives are non-violent I have an aunt who is and when she is coming down from one of the peaks she would often throw fits that resulted in things being thrown etc. The drinking is what makes that behavior worse in Sirius._


	33. Fall Out

Sirius awoke to the feeling of a breeze on his face. His room was filled with the smell of lavender from the back garden and then the lingering scent of ginger.

He only knew one person who always smelt of ginger. He rolled over and found Sonny sitting in the chair Remus had forced him into the night before. She had pulled it closer to the bed and was staring at him.

Thanks to Remus' sobering charm the night before he was able to clearly think when he awoke for the first time in months. He took in the way she was curled in on herself hugging her knees to her chest and the blooming bruises on her chin and neck.

Without thinking he reached out to touch them and she flinched in reaction to his raised hand. Before he could comment she spoke.

"We need to talk about what happened and what you plan on doing about your life," she rasped.

He took note of her strained voice than with speed he hadn't used in months he jumped from the bed and headed to the open window looking down frantically at the yard.

"Your things are still here. Though it took a lot of talking on my part to get Remus not to throw them on the lawn in garbage bags," she said followed by a knowing chuckle.

Trying to delay the conversation he knew they were about to have he gestured to the areas on his own face where she had bruises and asked, "Why didn't you have him heal those?"

"You've always needed to see the consequence of your actions," she said then in a very detached manner almost as if she was thinking aloud added, "I always wondered if things had been different in our sixth year if you would have learned your lesson. What would it have taken Snape's mangled body or Remus' head on pike after the Ministry executed him?"

Sirius growled, "Your one to talk about our sixth year or have you forgotten Mulciber and the empty classroom."

Now they were getting somewhere there was life in his eyes again she just needed to push him a little more. "No I haven't forgotten what I have done except for the fact that what I did in that classroom was the product of months of careful planning unlike you who always acts before you think. We have been cleaning up your messes forever if it wasn't me then it was Jamie or Regulus. Well guess what James and Regulus are DEAD and I am fucking fed up with always having to clean up after you when if just used the brains god gave you then you wouldn't even be in half the situations you find yourself in," she concluded gasping for breath as the rant took its toll.

He started to say something but she cut him off and continued her brutal verbal assault, "Even James' death didn't stop you from acting like an idiot. You walked over their bodies and just handed Harry over as if you were passing the salt. You might as well have just marched yourself into Azkaban. If I hadn't felt them die Harry would be at the tender mercies of Lily's sister and her asshole husband. Then after I get you out of prison you come home and lock yourself away in here with nothing but your booze and your grief."

Her arms were moving about to gesture to the now clean room as if proving a point. She collapsed back into the chair she had been sitting as the weight of all the things she had been keeping to herself for months, maybe even years, was lifted.

While the fight had gone out of Sonny, Sirius was finally feeling for the first time in a long time. "How could you fucking say that? I thought he was bringing Harry to you or at the very least Hogwarts to see Poppy. As to why I haven't left this room why would I so you can all stare at me as if I were an animal in a zoo. Don't think I don't see the glances and whispers about me between all of you," he yelled dejectedly, "I just want to be the big cousin you turn to when you're having a fight with Remus or just because you're sad. I want my best friend to look at me without fear or worry in his eyes. I just want everything to be like it used to be before everything. I don't know who you are anymore."

"We haven't been those people in a long time, Sirius. I don't know you anymore either but I want to as does Remus. The way we were back in school we can't be that way anymore too much has happened to go back. It's time to move forward. Remember that time fondly but longing for it to return will bring nothing but pain. Haven't you had enough pain," she said.

He nodded. He was sick of feeling this way and been long before James and Lily and Azkaban.

It was hours later when Remus went to check on them hoping not to find more blood and tears. Instead found the two sitting on Sirius' bed surrounded by old pictures ranging from their childhood to their time at Hogwarts and the rare few pictures that were taken during the war.

Sirius was waving one horribly embarrassing picture of Sonny aged 8 where she resembled a deranged porcelain doll after Narcissa had used her to practice her beauty charms.

"What are you two doing," he asked not knowing how they could have had a brawl the night before and were now laughing as if nothing had happened.

They answered almost in unison, "Healing."

_AN:They will all have a proper talk about things in the next chapter but Sonny needed unload as did Sirius before that could happen. Also I think that looking at those pictures was a big step for Sirius. He needs to know the difference between enjoying the happy memories and wallowing in the past as well as come to terms with the bad ones. I think pictures of when they were kids shows that it was all bad._


	34. Healing

That week Sirius went to his mind healer appointments and actually talked about what he was feeling. While Healer Jones worked on his depression but the healer recommended that he go to a muggle support group for his drinking which was the first problem that both Sonny and Remus had insisted that he work on.

He found that it was easy to share everything with the muggles even if he had to leave out magic. Lily and Sonny had spent a good deal of time helping the Marauders learn to the live in the muggle world in case they ever needed to go into hiding. Subtracting the magic from his story had been easy. He found that without it his story was similar to some of the other men and women in the group.

He told them he was a police officer. He told them about how his mother abused him and often favored his brother but despite that he still loved his little brother. He talked about running away and finding out that his brother had fallen in with a bad crowd and had gone missing assumed dead. He told people about how his best friend had been his partner on the force and that they had a case which left them targeted by a mad man and how James had been killed along with his wife. He talked about how he had been in prison for a month while they decided that he hadn't played a part in the deaths that surrounded him. The people in the room especially the women cried for the young man and the great amount of misfortune that had befallen him.

One of them became his sponsor. A kindly woman named Joann who was about his mother's age had stuck up a conversation with after his first meeting. Her husband had been a cop who was killed on the job leaving her with a young son to raise and no skills to make money. She had developed a drinking problem when she took a job at an ad agency. She was a secretary but she would often write little catchphrases and such for the products that were so good the men in agency stole them and she never saw a pound of the money they made from her words and she took to the drink which was always present at the office. She had nearly killed herself and her son in a car accident and once he was an adult he stopped speaking to her even though she had turned her life around and was now a successful writer.

It had been a month since the fight and Sirius hadn't had a drop to drink they were giving him, his one month chip and he was introducing Joann to his family.

Sonny, Remus and Harry sat in the community room of the little church where Sirius had found salvation. Remus had been skeptical at first of how well Sirius would be able to hide magic in such an intensely personal atmosphere and Sonny was worried that all the lying would make this kind of treatment ineffective. They were both wrong seeing that other people without a war had suffered similarly to him had helped. The fact that they didn't and couldn't just blame Voldemort made their opinions on his problems more constructive then if he had been in a room full of wizards.

It was before the meeting had started and Remus had popped out to the loo and Sirius was showing Harry off to the others when Joann came over to talk to Sonny. Her slim frame and warm blue eyes gave her the appearance of fragility but the illusion was shattered by the iron conviction with which she moved. The conversation had been brief but had put Sonny even farther at ease.

After the meeting, the small but odd family made their way to a nearby café for some food. As they sat in the ratty red leather booth Sonny was reminded of late nights in muggle London during the summer before their sixth year. It had been common for the four of them to sneak out of Potter Hall and spend time in muggle clubs listening to music and being young.

It seemed as if she wasn't the only one who was reminded of that time as the jovial mood of the group turned serious after they ordered their food.

Sirius cleared his throat and started to speak, "I am not going back to the auror corps."

Sonny and Remus both nodded they had a feeling he would want very little to do with the Ministry. "What do you plan on doing," she asked hoping he had better plans than to live off of the family money.

He grabbed Sonny's hand from where it lay on the table and touched the bracelet on her wrist which bore the Black family crest a coming of age present given to all the members of the family. Except Sirius. "I am going to make this family something that we can be proud of. A name worth wearing again," he explained as his fingers played with the charm dangling from her wrist a smile on his face.

"Oh no, Padfoot has a plan," Remus exclaimed using the old nickname without thought.

The warm atmosphere froze. Both men had agreed that the breach of trust in their friendship needed to be healed by them slowly becoming friends again now. Padfoot and Moony had died with James and the slip of the tongue undoubtedly had set back some of the progress that had made.

Sirius released Sonny's wrist with that statement and the food soon arrived. They quietly ate their meals with Sonny stopping every so often to clean off some of Harry's macaroni and cheese from his face and clothes.

After finishing chewing his bite of sandwich Sirius explained, "I will be in meetings with Uncle Finn for a few days until everything is settled."

Remus and Sonny both nodded thankful that Sirius was letting them know where he was going. Yet he had more to discuss. "I will need Sonny to come with me when I reclaim the position of Lord Black and when I handle some of my duties. I need people to think she is the one pulling the strings," he explained, "I have spent too long cultivating the persona of the lovable and brash prankster that I need people to underestimate me. Everyone knows what Sonny is capable of after everything that happened with my trial."

It was good to actually see Sirius put his brain to use. Remus wondered how long Sirius had been cultivating this persona and how much of the man he knew was actually him and how much was the façade. Sonny on the other hand was shocked because she had thought Sirius had long since given up playing the game. If she learned the game at her father's knee then Sirius had far more intense and fearsome lessons as the heir. She, herself, was only now realizing how much of her uncle and grandfather had been careful constructs that were meant to aide them as they led the family toward what had almost become the decimation of the Blacks.

_AN: Having Sirius in AA will lead to the introduction of Snape. I also picture the kids calling each other Lucy (Lucretia), Ryan (Orion) and Finn (Phineas) in a fit of rare rebellion especially since in the books we know that Bellatrix is often referred to as Bella. Also I know that in AA women aren't supposed to sponsor men but I couldn't walk away from giving Sirius a woman other Sonny to trust._


	35. Becoming Lord Black

Chapter Text

Phineas had drawn up all the paperwork and sent Sonny to file them at the same time that the ancient rites were performed at Gringotts.

Sirius walked into the bank and drew instant attention between his good looks which had been restored once stopped drinking and the Black family crest that was embroidered on his insanely expensive robes. Phineas followed behind him wearing the traditional colors of the Black family. They were led into the office of the Black family account manager. The old goblin got right down to business and they quickly went about starting the tests that prove kinship. From there they were led to another almost cave like room to start the ritual. The ritual itself was not the common one used by most families only the old families like the Blacks, Cromwells, Longbottoms and Malfoy used this kind of ceremony to transfer power from the Lord/Lady to the heir.

Phineas stood in place of his brother for his part in the ritual. He actually had to study this part as he hadn't been taught this from birth as his father and brother and nephew had been taught. Many of the meetings they had over the last few days had been teaching Phineas what he had to do and expect with Sonny acting in place of the goblin something which brought both men endless amusement especially when she would take her role a little too seriously.

Sirius was to stand in the middle of the room with a small pedestal that contained six candles and basin of purified water. From there the goblin and Phineas would draw a circle around him. The goblin used his long finger nail and Phineas used his wand. This symbolized that he was accepted by both wizarding and creature magic.

From the circle Sirius stated his intentions, "I, Sirius Orion Black, have come forward to claim my rite of birth."

The goblin then turned to Phineas and asked, "As an elder of the Family Black do you claim this child as an heir?"

"I, Phineas Apollinaire Black, claim this child as the sole male heir of the Family Black," he answered.

The goblin nodded as the candles near Sirius flickered. "Wizard-child now let the family magics judge you as fit to lead your family in this trying time," the goblin said to Sirius.

Sirius cleared his throat and began, "Vocans ab temporis spatio / linea nostri maiores / hic nunc colligat / gratia digna iudicandum."

As he spoke the last word he let for four drops of blood drip from his fingertip into the basin one for each of the elements. There was blinding flash and then the goblin spoke, "The magics have spoken you are the new Lord Black."

Sirius laughed he had been accepted by the family magics no Head of the Family had been accepted by the magics since the first Sirius Black. They could act Lord Black in the Ministry but there were things they didn't have access to like the family wand and the right to fully revoke the talents of the family.

He took the family wand and raised it like an eleven year buying his first wand. This made his plans even sweeter.

"I, Lord Black, do hereby annul the marriage of Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black and Rodolphous Lestrange. The marriage produced no issue and brought shame upon the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black. So mote it be," he raised the family wand and Bellatrix was once again a Black.

The goblin began scribbling ferociously on a note pad with a sinister grin on his face. He liked this new Lord Black he was vicious.

"Bellatrix's vault will be reclaimed to make up for the dowry paid to the Lestranges upon her marriage. The contents of the vault will be added to the Black Family wealth," he said looking solely at the goblin.

The goblin said, "We will do a full inventory of the vault and have it added to your next statement."

"Thank you honorable goblin, in payment for what you have done today and for the matter of inventorying the vault if you should find goblin made items please feel free to remove them," Sirius added.

Phineas piped up, "Didn't you have one last thing you wanted to do?"

"Ah, yes. As always uncle you are on top of everything. I, Lord Black, do hereby disown Bellatrix Black. She brought dishonor upon this family by disregarding the family in favor of pledging her loyalty to the one known as Lord Voldemort. So mote it be," he said and again sparks came from his wand.

They bid the goblins good day and left with Sirius grinning like a loon. It was good to be the lord.

_AN:The Latin that Sirius says is "I call forth from space and time/ ancients of our line/gather now in this place/ judge me worthy of your grace. Phineas' middle name is the french form of the name Apollo which means destruction and Apollo is the twin of Artemis which is Sonny's middle name. More on family magics will be in the next chapter._


	36. Happy Birthday Harry!

The month following Sirius' ascension to Lord Black was a busy one and proved that it wasn't always so easy to be the lord. With access to family library came the knowledge to ward the house that Remus and Sonny bought a few months earlier. It also had the down side of forcing Sirius into the presence of most of his family members.

While Sonny and Remus were playing happy family with Harry, Sirius was facing off against the old guard. His mother's father was by far the worst especially after Sirius put her under house arrest with only those he approved of allowed to visit. Old Pole Axe (a nickname that stick following Sonny's mispronunciation of his name) was not pleased he couldn't see his favorite child nor was he pleased that the magic approved of his wayward grandson. Hexes were thrown and ugly words were said and to further Sirius' resolve he found himself dodging an unforgivable.

The easiest people to deal with happened to have been the Malfoys. They were more cordial given the fact that at any time he could end Narcissa's marriage, take back her dowry and make their heir a bastard. After bribing Lucius' way out of prison they couldn't afford to lose Narcissa's dowry or her connections. Sirius left with a warning to keep old Abraxus away from the boy but one never knows.

With all those matters settled they turned to the more important issue of Harry's second birthday. They couldn't have a huge blowout because nobody knew they were raising Harry instead they choose to have a simple affair with just Sonny's family, Neville and Augusta Longbottom and Remus' father in attendance.

One could say that the events of the day were fitting given that Harry's first birthday happened amidst a civil war. It made sense that his second would take place during a cold war of sorts between the various guests.

Sonny had decorated the lavish Victorian home with streamers and balloons. She cooked like the Queen was coming and she baked a cake that would have made a professional weep. Unfortunately try as hard as she could she couldn't stop the tension from surrounding her guests. The night before Sirius had a fight with Remus that had end in screaming match that woke up Harry and neither man would tell her what the fight was about.

This tension only served as a reminder that Lyall Lupin hated The Blacks with all his soul. The Lupins were a minor but old aristocratic family from France and they were extremely and firmly rooted in the light. Lyall had been disowned follow the family's discovery of Remus' condition. He hated Phineas on principal due to the Black family's magical leanings. He hated Sirius from their dealings during the boys' Hogwarts years and he disliked the influence that Sonny had over Remus. Why he had been invited at all was a mystery to even Sonny.

These currents charged with what appeared to be a Black/Lupin family feud was coupled with discontent that Nora and Augusta felt with each other. Neville's birthday had been the day before and instead of throwing him a party Augusta had taken him to spend the day with Frank and Alice. Something that Nora thought amounted to psychological abuse with the condition the Longbottoms were in.

The only people totally unaware the arguments and resentments were the aunts and the children. Sonny tried to be the perfect hostess eventually she gave up deciding to play with the boys. Harry zoomed around on his toy broom which had been a replacement for the one Sirius brought him last year. Neville was terrified of the broom and choose the comfort of Sonny's arms and the enchanted figurines that she and Remus had brought him as a birthday present.

After finding out that Neville didn't have a party Sonny performed some of her magic and had Neville's name added along with Harry's to the cake which both boys enjoyed especially after getting it all over themselves, Sonny and Remus. The sight of the group covered in chocolate cake had been enough to let the last of the resentments between Sirius and Remus to melt away.

He snapped pictures as the boys giggled throwing cake at each other. Other tensions were not lifted as easily and it was with great relief that the party ended.

Though that relief was short lived as soon as the wards were lowered to allow guests to exit the house was under siege, by owls. Everybody wanted to celebrate the birthday of the boy who lived and they sent letters and gifts that until now couldn't get passed Sonny's wards. Phoebe scooped Neville up from Augusta's side heading back to the house where Nora and Harry were. While the other witches and wizards worked to get the mail, check for hexes and poisons, expel the owls and make sure the neighbors saw nothing.

After making sure all the owls were gone the adults departed and the trio were left to sort through all the well wishes. As punishment for their behavior during the party Sonny forced Sirius and Remus to do the majority of the work while she gave Harry his bath and put the overly tired toddler to sleep.

When she returned downstairs to the library there were several piles on the floor. She smiled the organized chaos was pure Sirius. The man himself looked up from what he was reading just then and explained the system, " This pile is well wishes from little old ladies, that pile is from the little kiddies, that over by your desk is from people who want to save him from the mean muggles, that is obviously a pile of toys," he paused and pointed at the largest pile, "and that is the pile that has all the letters that came with money."

She looked at the large pile sitting next to Remus, it was then that she noticed that he was counting not reading at his desk. "Merlin, Remus what is the damage," she asked afraid of the answer.

"About 2,500 galleons in sickles and knuts so far," he answered.

Sonny sat and started to bang her head on her oak writing desk. She looked up and said incredulously, "So far?"

"Some are just asking that he be awarded an Order of Merlin and the bounty that was on old Voldie's head," Sirius added from the couch.

"An Order of Merlin to a toddler! What is wrong with these people," she said.

"It would take two lifetimes to explain everything that is wrong with the wizarding world. However we do have the more pressing issue of what we are going to do with this money because nobody is buying a piece of Harry," Remus interjected pulling the other two back to the matter at hand.

He was met with identical looks of confusion causing him to sigh, "You two think you're so clever. Haven't either of you considered that by sending this money people are going to think they are entitled to some part of Harry as the boy who lived. As a public figure we are going to have deal with certain things but keeping the money will cut any arguments we have for his privacy off at the knees."

"So what do we do with it? We certainly can't send it back," Sirius said.

"A charity or scholarship? Do some good with the money without people thinking they have right to Harry. Plus it would cut down on what happened today if people want to remember The Potters donate to the charity," Sonny said straightening in her chair.

As she began reaching for the paper and pen she preferred over a quills and parchment both men knew that the long day was going to become a long night.

_AN:Sirius and Remus were fight about Remus' father. A few more political chapters and then I plan on jumping a few years ahead to when Harry will be starting grade school._


	37. Father Knows Best

The trio was in agreement about the plan they had worked on most of last night. The Potter Foundation was going to be a children's charity that focused on the protection of magical children including squibs, muggleborns and even cursed children like werewolves. The idea being that no magically born child should ever suffer for not meeting the expectations of perfection that were so prominent in the wizarding world.

Lily and James had always talked about having brood that rivaled the Weasley clan so a children's charity seemed fitting. The expansion of the idea came with their own experiences. Sonny was quite shocked when Sirius informed her that there was not a department that handled abuse claims and such. Children were the greatest resource to any culture especially a culture that had been ravaged by war to know that the government had no protection in place for these kids hurt Sonny on an almost psychic level.

Sirius had volunteered to donate one of the many Black properties to be used as an orphanage/school for the children. Sonny was going to be the face of the organization as she had an existing relationship with the press and Remus was going to handle the finances as he had become so well respected among the goblin it would make things run much smoother.

They set out to get to work on making the Potter Foundation a reality. They were heading into Gringotts when a dreaded red envelope, a howler, arrived. Her father in a voice as cold as ice demanded that she and Remus come to his office immediately.

They left the bank red faced and embarrassed. He had never even sent a howler when she was in school and she had pulled some stunts during her school years worthy of a telling off from both parents.

She had a good head of steam going when they arrived at her father's office but before she could go off on him he started right in. "Sit down and listen to me you foolish little girl," he ordered as he paced with bits of parchment in his hands. She froze at those words and Remus had to pull her into a seated position fearing the normally composed man's wrath.

It was only when they were seated that they realized Sirius was there as well and seemed to be suffering from the same shock as Sonny.

"This morning I get a letter from my nephew asking me about the properties along the coast. At first I thought maybe he was looking for a place but you just bought that lovely house and then I thought maybe he was trying to recoup money lost during the war. Thinking that I would be acting as his advisor just like I did with my brother I flooed to see what the problem was. He then tells me it is too much to explain and that he needed to find a sitter and he would be over in a few minutes. He left Harry with the aunts and came over here. He just finished telling me your plan and for once it was you who was acting without thinking he was just caught up in the madness," Phineas said while glaring holes into his daughter.

"Father, please be reasonable. Think of all the good we could do and the lives we could save," she implored.

"No you need to be reasonable. The amount of attention you will not only receive from this but the attention it will require how do you think you will be able to keep Harry a secret if you are raising a dozen other children," he said watching as she processed what he told her.

As she realized the truth of his words his anger slipped away and so did her rage. "How could I be so stupid? We, no, I could have put Harry in such danger," Sonny lamented as her anger turned inward.

Both Sirius and Remus attempted to comfort her but she refused it. Sonny never expected perfection from others but she demanded it of herself. It was Phineas who finally broke her self-deprecating rant by taking her face in his hands.

"You act so grown up sometimes I forget how young you really are. At twenty-two, the three of you have been through so much but your still only twenty-two you want to save the world. You have all these grand plans but you need to think smaller. Something more manageable," he told her, "Think it through I will always help you."

Silence fell over the group each lost in thought. Sonny was frighten by her own ambition. How the little idea of a scholarship became this huge thing and she knew that it was her that kept expanding the reaches of the project. She vowed to herself then and there to never let her ambitions put her family in danger. Family was everything at least to some people.

Sirius began to think of different ways to pare down the plan and the various contacts he would need to get ahold of.

"We should go back to the original idea a simple scholarship fund. We can use it as way to check up on the children like Lily and make sure they aren't being treated poorly because of their magic as well as keep an eye on Dumbledore," Sirius said.

Sonny turned to him with her eyes wide and said, "What about the kids like you and Remus? Muggleborns have a bit of protection in the muggle world but there is nothing to protect magical children in magical households."

Remus let out a long suffering sigh as the two bickered back and forth before he spoke, "Sonny, you are the Potter regent. Sirius, you are a former auror and Lord Black and we are sitting in a law office."

"The Potter Foundation becomes the Potter Children's Protection Act," Sonny said smiling, "And you Remus Lupin are a genius."

Phineas sat down with them and together they began to formulate what would become the PCPA. Sonny's knowledge of the muggle system help provide the basis for the department the bill would form. Sirius and Phineas added their legal knowledge while Remus worked out the logicists behind where the children would go if they were abandoned or removed from their parents' custody. Sonny would propose the bill during the next Wizengamot meeting in a month.

There was only one problem her idea would need three nominations before it would be reviewed and put to a vote. Sirius and Melanie were good for one vote each but she was aware that Augusta was of the mind that you didn't interfere with other people's children her fight with Nora at Harry's party proved that. She certainly couldn't count on Dumbledore, if this law passed it would mean Ministry interference at Hogwarts which the old wizard, while he denied it, ruled like his own little fiefdom.

They racked their brains for an ally when Remus and Sonny said at the exact same moment, "Amelia Bones."

Sirius tilted his head to the side confused and looking remarkably like his canine self silently asking for their reasoning.

Before Sonny could explain Remus answered, "She took in her niece Susan after her brother and the rest of the family were slaughtered in a raid. She is also an auror. Aurors will have to work with the new department if one of the new rising stars of the DMLE is willing to back it we may get taken more seriously."

With that thought explained the group broke up as Sonny went home to Harry and to craft the perfect letter to Amelia Bones. Sirius left to work on a list of members who would support the bill and the others stayed behind to work on the actual document.

_AN: I rewrote this chapter like five times. Let me know if it is good because I cant tell anymore._


End file.
